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THE COLONIZATION OF AFRICA, 



IrOnllOli: C. J. CLAY AND SONS, 
CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS WAREHOUSE, 

Ave Maria Lane. 

•Uumsto: 263, ARGYLE STREET. 




UiViiu: F. A. BROCKHAUS. 

^lln Indt: THE MACMILLAN COMPANY. 

Sombm: E. SEYMOUR HALE. 



\ I 



^ 



A HISTORY 



OF THE 



Y/JiJS^ 



COLONIZATION OF AFRICA 



.BY ALIEN RACES 



BY 



SIR HARRY H. JOHNSTON, K.C.B. 

(author of *' BRITISH CBNTRAL AFRICA," BTC.). 



WITH EIGHT MAPS BY THE AUTHOR AND 

J. G. BARTHOLOMEW. 



CAMBRIDGE : 
AT THE UNIVERSITY PRESS. 

1899 

[All Sigits retttvtd.] 



\jT 



^■> 



GENERAL PREFACE. 



T?ie aim of this series is to sketch the history of Modem 
Europe^ with that of its chief colonies and conquests^ from about 
the end of the fifteenth century down to the present time. In one 
or two cases the story will commence at an earlier date : in the 
case of the colonies it will usually begin later. The histories 
of the different countries will be described^ as a general rule^ 
separately^ for it is believed that, except in epochs like that of the 
French Revolution and Napoleon /, the connection of events will 
thus be better understood and the continuity of historical develop- 
ment more clearly displayed. 

The series is intended for the use of all persons anxious to 
understand the nature of existing political conditions, " The roots 
of the present lie deep in the past,^ and the reed significance of 
contemporary events cannot be grasped unless the historical causes 
which have led to them are known. The plan adopted makes 
it possible to treat the history of the last four centuries in 
cofisiderahU detail, and to embody the most important results of 
modern research. It is hoped therefore that the series will 
be useful not only to beginners but to students who have already 
acquired some general knowledge of European History, For 
those who wish to carry their studies further, the bibliography 
appended to each volume will act as a guide to original sources 
of information and works more detailed and authoritative. 

Considerable attention will be paid to political geography, 
and each volume will be furnished with such maps and plans 
as may be requisite for the illustration of the text, 

G. W. PROTHERO. 



PREFATORY NOTE. 



The Editor of this Historical series asked me to compile 
this little work on the History of African Colonization ; other- 
wise it is doubtful whether I should have applied myself to a 
task, which, until I had commenced it, appeared to me an act 
of supererogation in the presence of such admirable existing 
works on African history as those of Mr M'^Call Theal, Dr 
Scott-Keltie, Mr C. P. Lucas, Sir Edward Hertslet and others. 
But when I was made aware that no attempt had yet been 
made to summarise and review in a single book the general 
history of the attempts of Asia and Europe to colonize Africa 
during the historical period, I admitted that there might be 
room and usefulness for such a work, and have since attempted 
to fulfil the task to the best of my ability. Further preface 
would overload this unpretending compilation; but, turning 
away from the public, I should like to dedicate my work in 
personal friendliness and admiration to four men specially 
distinguished among many others by their services in the 
cause of European civilization in Africa : Sir George Taub- 
MAN GoLDiE, who has risked life and fortune through twenty 
years in founding Nigeria as a British dominion, which some 
day in extent, population, and wealth may rival India ; Lord 
Kitchener of Khartum, who for thirteen years has cherished, 
in the face of much discouragement, and has at last accom- 
plished the task of reconquering from barbarism the Egyptian 



vi Prefatory Note, 

Sudan ; Monsieur Ren£ Millet, French Resident General 
in Tunis, who has shown how well a Frenchman can admin- 
ister a great dependency when allowed liberty of action ; and 
Major Hermann von Wissmann, German Imperial Com- 
missioner in Africa, who founded the State of German East 
Africa, and who has done more than any living German to 
establish and uphold the prestige of that great nation in the 
darkest parts of the Dark Continent. 

H. H. JOHNSTON. 



Tunis, November, 1898. 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER I. 

Mediterranean, Malay, and Muhammadan Invaders. 

The origin of African man — Distribution of native races three thousand 
years ago— Bantu invasion of South Africa — ^The Phoenicians — 
Carthage — Hanno's voyage — Greeks in Cyrenaica and Egypt — Per- 
sians in Egypt — Rome replaces Carthage — Malay invasions of Mada- 
gascar — ^Vandals in North Africa — Byzantine Greeks — Muhammadan 
invasions of North Africa in the seventh century — Berber dynasties 
which arose therefrom — Renewed Arab invasions — The Almoravide 
dynasty from the Niger — succeeded by the Almohades — Counter attacks 
of Portugal and Spain — Moorish conquests in Nigeria — Turkish inter- 
vention in North Africa — ^Arab setUements on Zanzibar coast . i 

CHAPTER II. 

The Portuguese in Africa. 

Origin of the State of Portugal — Prince Henry the Navigator — Portuguese 
explorations of West African coast — Rounding of Cape of Good Hope 
— East African conquests — Portuguese in Abyssinia — ^in the Congo 
Kingdom — in Angola — Paulo Diaz — ^The benefits the Portuguese con- i^ 
ferred on Africa — Their struggles with the T )H^<;?h — Progress of their 
rule in West Africa — ^in East Africa — Monomotapa — Dr Lacerda e 
Almeida — Livingstone's journeys — Present state of Mo9ambiqtte — 
Delagoa Bay — Beira — Mouzinho de Albuquerque — Mo9ambique Com- 
pany 27 



viii Contents, 

CHAPTER III. 

Spanish Africa. 

Spain's North African establishments in the i6th century — The Moorish 
Pirates — Gradual loss of Spanish possessions in Algeria and Tunis — 
Canary Islands — Fernando Po and Corisco . . . . 6i 

CHAPTER IV. 

The Dutch in Africa. 

Dutch traders on Jhe W^ Coast: — Dutch settle at the Cape of Good Hope 
^^STHelena — Mauritius — The Netherland E^t India Co. — Huguenot 
colonists — Governor Tulbagh — extensions of Dutch influence — First 
hostile British expedition under Commodore Johnstone — First Dutch 
war with the Kaffirs — First British occupation of the Cape of Good 
Hope — Interregnum of Dutch rule — British finally annex Cape Colony 
— Their rulers come into conflict with the sentiments of the Dutch 
colonists (Boers) — The Boer Treks — Origin of Transvaal and Orange 
Free State republics — Annexation and revolt of Transvaal — Sir 
Charles Warren's expedition — ^Johannesburg, the Outlanders, and 
Jameson's raid — Possible future of Dutch states * , , 66 

CHAPTER V. 

The Slave Trade. 

Negro predisposition for slavery — Slave trade in the Roman world, in 
Muhammadan countries and India — Great development consequent on 
the exploitation of America — English slave traders — English. Anti- 
Slavery movement — Author's own experiences of slave trade — Steps 
taken by various European countries to abolish Slave Trade — By 
Great Britain in particular — Rev. S. W. Koelle — Zanzibar slave trade 
— Ethics of slavery — A word of warning to the Negro . . 91 

CHAPTER VI. 

The British in Africa, I. 

{West Coasty Morocco, North-Central,) 

The English in West Africa — ^The Gambia — Sierra Leone — Gold Coast — 
Lagos — Niger Delta— Mr E. H. Hewett — Nigeria — Sir G. Taubman 
Goldie — Great Britain and Tripoli — and Morocco . . . 103 



Contents. ix 

CHAPTER VII. 

The French in West and North Africa. 

The Dieppe adventurers — Jannequiixj^ie Rochefort and the Senegal — Briie 
and the foundation of the colony of Senegal — Campagnon — Progress of 
French rule over Senegambia — Advance to the Niger — Samori and 
Ahmadu — Timbuktu — Binger and the Ivory Coast — Samori — ^Tim- v 
buktu definitely occupied — Busa and the Anglo-French Convention 
— France and Egypt — Algiers — Development of Algeria — ^Tunis — The 
Sahara — The Gaboon — French Congo — The Shari and Ubangi — 
French designs on Nileland — ^The convention with Abyssinia — Obok 
and Somaliland m 

CHAPTER VIII. 

Christian Missions. 

Their work the antithesis to the slave trade — Portuguese missions to 
Congoland, to the 2^ambezi, to Abyssinia — First Protestant missions — 
— Church Missionary Society — Dr Krapf — Wesleyans, Methodists, 
Society for Propagation of the Gospel — Roman Catholic missions to 
Algeria, Congoland, the Nile — Cardinal Lavigerie — The * White 
Fathers * — The Jesuits on the Zambezi— in Madagascar — The London 
Missionary Society — Swiss and German Protestant Missions — French 
Evangelical Missions — Presbyterian (Scotch) Missions — Norwegian 
and American Missions — Linguistic work of latter — Universities* 
Mission — Plymouth Brethren — Baptists — North African Mission — 
Zambezi Industrial Mission — Abyssinian Christianity . . 146 

CHAPTER IX. 

The British in Africa, II. 

(South and South-Central.) 

Great Britain's seizure of the Cape of Good Hope — Permanent establish- 
ment there — Abolition of slavery — Dutch grievances — Kaffir Wars — 
Lord Glenelg and intervention of Downing Street — Boer Treks — 
Responsible government in Cape Colony — Kaffir delusions as to 
expected resurrection of their fore&thers and expulsion of English — 
St Helena, Ascension and Tristan d'Acunha— Discovery of dia- 
monds in Grikwaland — History of Natal — Coolie labour and Indian 



Contents. 

immigration — Delagoa Bay arbitration — Damaraland — Origin of 
German entrance into South African sphere — ^Walfish Bay — Bechnana- 
land — Zambezia — Nyasaland — British Central Africa — ^African Trans- 
continental Telegraph — South African federation — The Transvaal — 
Sir Bartle Frere — ^Zululand and the Zulu War — Boer revolt — Rhodes 
and Rhodesia — Matabele Wars and Dr Jameson — Mauritius . i6o 



CHAPTER X. 

Great Explorers. 

Old-time travellers — Herodotus — Strabo — Pliny — Ptolemy — ^The Arab 
geographers — The Portuguese explorers — ^Andrew Battel — British on 
the Gambia — French on the Sen^[al — ^James Bruce and the Blue Nile 
— Timbuktu — Mungo Park and the Niger — South African explorations 
— Portugal and Dr Lacerda — Captain Owen — ^Tuckey and the Congo 
— Major Laing — Ren^ Caill^ — British Government expeditions in 
Tripoli, — Bomu, Lake Chad, and Sokoto — Lander and the Niger 
mouth — Barth and the Western Sudan — the Jewish explorer Mor- 
dokhai — Krapf, Rebmann, and the Snow Mountains — L ivingsto ne — 
Burton and Speke, Speke and Grant — Samuel Baker — Livingstone 
and Kirk — French explorers in North- West Africa — Livin gstone and - 
C entral Africa — Cameron — Rohlfe — Nachtigal — Alexandr^e 'I'inne— ^ / 1 
Paul du Chaillu — Winwood Reade — Stanley and the Congo— Por- 
tuguese explorers — Schweinfurth and the Welle — Nile explorers — 
Nyasaland explorations — Dr Felkin — ^Joseph Thomson— George Gren- i 
fell — Emin Pasha — Recent explorers and explorations . . 190 ' | 



CHAPTER XL 

Belgian Africa. 

Comit^ d'Etudes du Haut Congo — Mr H. M. Stanley founds the Congo 
Free State — ^its subsequent history — Long struggle with the Arabs-— 
Lieut. Dhanis — Rumoured atrocities — Katanga — Extension to the 
White Nile — Murder of Mr Stokes — Railway to Stanley Pool — Future 
of Congo Free State 225 



Contents. xi 

CHAPTER XII. 

The British in Africa, III. 

{Egypt and Eastern Africa.) 

England wrests Egypt from the French — Rise of Muhammad AH — Suez 
Canal — ^Arabi's rebellion — Tel-el-Kebir — Mahdi*s revolt — Gordon's 
death — Lord Cromer — ^Lord Kitchener and the reconquest of the 
Sudan — Fashoda — Aden and Somaliland — Zanzibar — Sir John Hirk — 
Kilimanjaro — British East African Company— Colonel Lugard and 
Uganda — Sir Gerald Portal — ** Roddy Owen "—Zanzibar administra- 
tion — Dissolution of British East Africa Company . . 231 

CHAPTER XIII. 

The Italians in Africa. 

Italian commercial intercourse with North Africa durifig Crusades and 
Renaissance— Italy in Tunis and Tripoli — ^Assab Bay — Abyssinia — 
Eritrea — Italian reverse at Adna — Italy in Somaliland . . 243 

CHAPTER XIV. 

^^ -^ German Africa. 

The Brandenburg traders and the West Coast — German aspirations after 
colonies in the " 40's *' and *' 6o's " — German missionaries in South- 
West Africa — Herr LUderitz — ^Angra Pequena — British indecision — 
German South- West Africa Protectorate founded — Germany in the 
Cameroons — in East Africa — Anglo-German partition of the Sultan of 
Zanzibar's dominions — prospects of German rule in Africa — German 
South- West Africa — Togoland 249 

CHAPTER XV. 

The French in Madagascar. 

First rumours of the existence of Madagascar — Confusion with Zanzibar 
and the Comoro Islands — Portuguese discovery — French Company of 
the East founded to colonize the Island — Fort Dauphin — Pronis, the 
immoral governor — ^Vacher de RochellCi King-Consort of a Malagasy 
Queen — French East India Company founded, lie de Bourbon 
colonized — The Madagascar Pirates — French found settlement of St 
Marie' de Madagascar — Send scientific expeditions to Madagascar 



W ""I" 



xii Contents, 

which first make known its peculiar fauna — Benyowski, the Polish 
adventurer — The Malagasy — The Hovas — English capture Mauritius 
and Bourbon and turn the French out of Madagascar — French r^ain 
Bourbon and re-occupy St Marie de Madagascar — First missionaries of 
the London Missionary Society arrive in Madagascar (1818) — Rise of 
Radama and the Hova power — French repulse in 1819 — ^The ship- 
wrecked sailor, Laborde — Queen Ranavalona and persecutions of the 
Christians — The Sakalavas — Prince Rakoto and Lambert's frustrated 
coup d'etat — Accession of Rakoto (Radama II) — Deposition and 
death — French concession repudiated and indemnity paid — ^The 
Laborde succession — Quarrel with France in 1883 — The Shaw in- 
cident — General Willoughby — England recognizes French protectorate 
over Madagascar — final invasion, conquest and annexation of the 
Island by the French -261 

CHAPTER XVI. 

Conclusion. 

Three classes into which Africa falls from colonization standpoint — 
Healthy Africa — Yellow Africa — Black Africa — Pr(^;nostications as to 
future race movements — Predominant European races in the future — 
The seven great languages of New Africa — Paganism will disappear — 
Muhammadan zeal will eventually decay — The Negro will become 
identified in national interests with his diverse European rulers, and 
will not unite to form a universal Negro nation with the cry of 'Africa 
for the Africans ' 277 

Supplementary Notes 285 

Appendix I. Notable events and dates in the history of African coloni- 
zation 28^ 

Appendix II. Bibliography 2oo 

^"<^«'' , 30J 



LIST OF MAPS. 

1. Map of Africa as known to the Ancients; showing distribution of 

native races and lines of Bantu invasion . To /ace p. 4. 

2. Muhammadan Africa To fact p. 26. 

3. The Portuguese in Africa To face p. 60. 

4. The Slave Trade To face p. 91. 

5. The French in Africa To face p. 145. 

6. The British in Africa To face p. 231. 

7. The Colonizability of Africa . . . . 7i face p. 275. 

8. Political Map of Africa in 1898 .... At end. 



Note. The spelling of African names adopted throughout this book is 
the system sanctioned by the Royal Geographical Society, by which all 
consonants are pronounced as in English and all vowels as in Italian. 
I^}, ft represents the nasal soimd of *ng' in ^nngmg^^ *song,* as distin- 
guished from the *ng' in * anger.' No consonants are doubled unless 
pronounced twice in succession: thus 'Massowah* is properly written 
Masawa. But where old established custom has sanctioned a spelling 
diverging from these rules the official spelling of the name is adopted. 
Thus : Mo9ambique instead of Msambiki ; Quelimane instead of Keliman ; 
Uganda instead of the more correct Buganda ; Bonny instead of Obani. 



CHAPTER I. 

MEDITERRANEAN, MALAY, AND MUHAMMADAN 

INVADERS. 

The theme of this book obviously deals rather with the 
invasion and settlement of Africa by foreign nations than with 
the movements of people indigenous in their present types to 
the African continent; but, nevertheless, it may be well to 
precede this sketch of the history of African colonization by a 
few remarks explaining the condition and inhabitants of the 
continent — so far as we can deduce them from indirect evidence 
— before it was subjected to historic invasions of alien peoples. 

In all probability man first entered Afnca from Asia, in >r' 
which continent he almost certainly originated. He followed 
in the footsteps of those large mammals which now form the 
most striking features in the African fauna, but which were 
unknown in that continent before the end of the Tertiary 
epoch. Later on, and still in prehistoric times, there were no 
doubt migrations of European man from the northern side of 
the Mediterranean, just as probably counter race movements 
occurred from the north of Africa into southern Europe. But 
it seems much more likely that the bulk of African humanity 
in its original types passed from India into Arabia, and thence 
into north-eastern Africa \ 

^ Geologists seem still to be divided in opinion as to the existence in 
Tertiary times of a land surface connecting southern Africa with southern 

J. A. I 



2 The Colonization of Africa, [Chap. 

Early African man was of a very low negroid type, like the 
Bushmen and Hottentots, and was also akin to the negroid 
peoples still existing in southern Asia and Oceania. From this 
stock — either in its first place of expansion, Arabia, or in north- 
east Africa— diverged the black Negro* and the yellow Hamite, 
and from this latter, the white Semite ; it is probable, how- 
^ ever, that the divergence of the Hamites and Semites from the 
primitive Negro stock took place in Arabia rather than in 
Africa, though from historical results it is better to assume 
that the Hamite is an African type and the Semite an Asiatic 
One branch of the Hamites invading Europe from north-west 
Africa possibly created that dark-haired Iberian race which 
has so permeated southern and western Europe. Another 
Hamite development in the valley of the Nile resulted in that 
great Egyptian people with whom the dawn of written history 
commences, and who threw for a time an effulgent light on 
north-east Africa. But the ancient Egyptians, being regarded 
by most authorities as essentially an African people, cannot 
come within the scope of this book as colonists, though their 
wonderful civilization did much to attract Asiatic and European 
races to the invasion of Africa. 

About 3000 years ago — a minute in the duration of the 
human genus — the distribution of African races was probably 
as follows: — Egypt, Abyssinia, Somaliland, the northern part 
of the Sahara Desert, and all North Africa, were peopled by 

Asia. It is therefore much more easy to assume that the shallow Red Sea 
was at one time reduced to a series of salt lakes, and that the land 
between them was the route early man followed. Had Lemuria existed 
in later Tertiary times why does not its relic, Madagascar, retain descend- 
ants of the large African mammals which would have made their way 
across this route from India to Africa? 

^ Not perhaps black originally but a dirty yellow-brown, like the 
Bushmen and Hottentots and new-bom negro infants; the distinction of 
hair is perhaps the best definition of these allied races — the woolly-haired 
negro, the curly-haired Hamite, and the straight-haired Semite. 



I.] Mediterranean and Muhammadan. 3 

Hamite races, who varied in complexion from dark brown to 
yellow white. To the south and east were mixed peoples, like 
the Nubians, Tibbus, Fulas, Mandingoes, who either represent 
superior offshoots from the negroid stock (though inferior in 
upward development to the Hamite), or the result of inter- 
breeding between the Hamites and their divergent relations the 
true Negroes. The latter — the black, woolly-haired Negroes 
— stretched right across the continent in a great belt from 
Abyssinia to the Atlantic Ocean, but were arrested in their 
progress southwards by the Congo forests and some other 
obstacles unknown to us, which, until relatively recent times, 
prevented their occupying the southern half of Africa. Through 
these equatorial forests, and beyond them to the southernmost 
extremity of Africa, ranged a dwarfish people of pigmy Bushman 
t)rpe, to some extent degenerate, but on the whole representing 
the earliest form of the Negro species which invaded Africa, 
a type that perhaps had overrun all Africa and had penetrated 
thence into Mediterranean Europe, but which had at the period 
I am reviewing been in a great measure extirpated from all 
Africa north of the Congo basin. Possibly in the east and west 
coast regions black Negroes had penetrated to some degrees 
south of the equator, though no further than the latitude of 
Zanzibar. There were no foreign settlers then in Africa, unless 
a few wandering Semites had settled in Egypt or in the '. . 
highlands of Abyssinia, and except for prehistoric invasions 
of Mauritania by European savages. 

A little later on occurred the great movement of the Bantu 
Negroes. The actual centre of Africa had by this time (say 
under 3000 years ago) become extremely populous. Want 
of space, and possibly the invasion of stronger races from the 
north or north-east, forced the Negro tribes speaking the Bantu 
mother language — a speech distantly related to many language 
groups in the lower Niger basin and on the west coast of Africa, 
and still more distantly to other linguistic families in north 
central Africa — to invade en masse the southern portion of the 



4 The Colonization of Africa, [Chap. 

continent till then inhabited only by Bushmen, Hottentots*, 
and such-like dwarfish tribes. Skirting the dense Congo forests, 
they took the line of least resistance down the eastern side of 
the continent, along the great lakes, the line by which their 
main body proceeded due south, while section after section 
curled back westward into the Congo basin, and eastward on 
to the Zanzibar and Mogambique coasts. Soon these black 
Bantu Negroes were the masters of southern Africa, and feeble 
remnants of the aboriginal dwarf races lingered only in the 
Congo forests and in the south-west corner of the continent. 
Some evidence is adduced to show that Madagascar was first 
inhabited by a dwarfish race of Bushmen stock known as the 
Kimo. If this is the case, and the evidence offered is very 
slight, these first inhabitants of Madagascar must have been 
sufficiently civilized to have been able to travel in canoes from 
the east coast of Africa by way of the Comoro islands to 
Madagascar. However that may be, it is much more certain 
that a section of the Bantu Negroes did invade Madagascar 
from the east coast of Africa at a period antecedent to the 
arrival of the Malay races. These were known as the Ba-Zimba 
or Va-Zimba. They were subsequently absorbed by the later 
invaders of Malay stock, so that along the west and south 
coasts of Madagascar the people are very negroid in appearance. 
Almost coincident with the Bantu race movement occurred 
the first conscient Semitic attempts at colonizing Africa. The 
enterprising Phoenicians founded Carthage and established 
trading stations along the north and north-west coasts of Africa. 
Nearly at the same time came Arabs from the west coast of 
Arabia voyaging down the east coast of Africa till they ulti- 
mately settled in the Sofala' district south of the Zambezi, and 

^ The Hottentots are thought by some to represent a cross between the 
black Negroes and the Bushmen : but it is more likely from linguistic and 
other reasons that they are an independent offshoot of the original Negroid 
stock related to the Bushman. 

2 InArkbicijUj "Zufar." 



AFRICA AS KNOWN TO THE ANCIENTS 



Pypnies, Bushmin, end Hsil 



Till maf s*nu aim tAt fiviaili d! 



Ttu tmnrtiiifB/rKt Unit indtcalit laixlurt t/i 
A RUBm indicate thiH " ' 



'.riainly kntnutt coutttry ; a red dotUd tiru gives I 



>\ 



«",• 



I.] Mediterranean and Muhammadan. 5 

penetrating inland, commenced to work the gold-mines of 
modern Rhodesia, leaving there as witnesses of their presence 
the stone forts and buildings which we have recently re- 
discovered ^ A Semitic people also about the same time 
began to settle in Abyssinia*, where it has remained the 
dominant race ever since. Other Phoenicians, besides those 
who founded Carthage, explored the coasts of Africa, especially 
the east coast, where they founded stations as far south as 
Mo9ambique, possibly. They may have even reached the 
gold-bearing districts of the Zambezi, and one expedition under 
Phoenician navigators employed by the Egyptian king, Necho, 
is said to have circumnavigated Africa from the Red Sea to the 
Mediterranean (about 600 B.C.). 

On the whole, the most fruitful of the pre-Roman invasions 
of Africa (as it was almost the earliest) was the foundation of 
Utica (about iioo B.C.) and Carthage (about 280 years later). 
The Phoenicians (whose descendants have become known as 
the Carthaginians, though to the Romans they were always the 
Poeni or Puni) in the main founded trading stations rather 
than colonies ; but the cities of Utica, Carthage, Hippo*, and 
the other Carthaginian ports on the north-east coast of Tunis, 
naturally under a centralized government to some extent main- 
tained during centuries a domination over the Berber tribes of 
what is now Tunisia. There are traces of a Carthaginian 
causeway running up the valley of the Majerda and south-east 
towards the country of the dates and the hot springs. When 
Carthage was most vigorous, no doubt the Berber tribes within 
100 miles of her strongest settlements gave her their allegiance 
in a varying degree ; but at the least weakening of her power 

^ From the graven representations of the natives left by these early 
Arah-Sabaean settlers we know that they belonged then exclusively to the 
Hottentot-Bushman type. 

^ Semitic invasions of Egypt probably preceded all the events I here 
enumerate. 

' In this case, the Hippo Diarrhytus of the Greeks and Romans, and 
the Benzert of modem Tunis. [Low Latin, Hippone-Zaryt] 



6 The Colonization of Africa, [Chap. 

they were ready to revolt and take part with her enemies. The 
troops she employed were alien to her race and mercenaries. 
A large proportion of them were recruited in Barbary. They 
frequently mutinied and turned against their Syrian employers. 
Yet occasionally Carthage produced a man like Hannibal who 
could win the confidence of these Berber soldiers and lead 
them to fight the battles of Carthage in Spain, Sicily, and 
Italy. In the outlying districts of north Africa, however, 
especially in Morocco, tradition states that the Berbers occa- 
sionally rose en masse and destroyed the Carthaginian settle- 
ments. These trading stations were dotted over the north 
coast of Africa to the Straits of Gibraltar, and down the Atlantic 
coast of Morocco to a point almost within sight of the Canary 
Islands. There has been transmitted to us through the diligence 
of ancient Greek geographers the Greek version of what is 
supposed to be the original description in Punic of the voyage 
of Hanno the Carthaginian. This Funic explorer started from 
Carthage some time in the sixth century before Christ (perhaps 
about 520 B.C.) with a fleet of 60 ships, and a multitude of men 
and women (said to have been 30,000 in number), on a voyage 
of discovery mainly, but also for the purpose of replenishing with 
settlers the Carthaginian stations alpng the coast of Morocco. 
In the account given of the journey it is stated that after passing 
the Straits of Hercules, and stopping at the site of the modem 
Sebu, they rounded Cape Cantin and came to a marsh in which 
a large number of elephants were disporting themselves \ 
They then continued their journey along the coast till they 
came to the river Lixus, which has been identified with the 

^ This is an interesting observation. Not only does the statement 
repeatedly occur in the writings of ancient Greek and Roman geographers 
that the African elephant was found wild in Mauritania in these times, but 
this animal is pictured in the remarkable rock sculptures in the Sus country 
in the extreme south of Morocco, and in the Roman mosaics and frescoes 
found in the interior of Tunis, and now to be seen at the Bardo Museum 
near Tunis. (See for this the travels of the Moroccan Jewish Rabbi, 
Mordokhai.) 



I.] Mediterranean and Muhammadan, 7 

river Draa. From here they coasted the desert till they 
reached the Rio d'Ouro, and on an islet at the head of this 
inlet they founded the commercial station of Kerne. From 
Kerne they made an expedition as far south as a river which 
has been identified as the river Senegal (having first visited 
the Lagoon of Teniahir). Again setting out from Kerne, they 
passed Cape Verde, the river Gambia, and the Sierra Leone 
coast as far as the Sherboro inlet, which was the limit of their 
voyage of discovery. Here they encountered "wild men and 
women covered with hair " — probably the chimpanzees, which 
are found there to this day, and not the gorilla, which is an 
ape (so far as we know) peculiar to the Gaboon. As Hanno's 
interpreter called the^e creatures " gorilla " that name was long 
afterwards — I think wrongly — ^applied to the huge anthropoid 
ape of the Gaboon. When this expedition visited the vicinity 
of the Senegal river they were attacked by the natives, who 
were described as '^ wild men wearing the skins of beasts and 
defending themselves with stones." So far as we know, this 
was the first sight that civilized man had of his wild brother 
since the two had parted company in Neolithic times, except 
for glimpses of the Troglodytes, whom the Carthaginians appear 
to have met with in the valley of the river Draa\ 

At Kerne and other trading stations on the coast to the 
south of Morocco, the Carthaginians did no doubt a little trade 
with the Berber natives in the produce of the Sudan, south of 
the Sahara, but after a time the weakening of the power of 
Carthage and the attacks of the natives must have destroyed 
most of these West African settlements ; for the Romans in 
replacing the Carthaginians do not seem to have gone further 
south than the river Draa. 

^ It does not follow, however, that these Troglodytes were dwarfs or 
N^[roes, or greatly dilTerent in race from the Berbers. They may have been 
akin to the Troglodytes I have recently seen in the Tunisian Sahara, a 
Berber people living in caves, which are either natural hollows in the lime- 
stone rock or have been deliberately excavated. 



8 The Colonization of Africa, [Chap. 

The Carthaginians do not seem to have tamed the indi- 
genous African elephant (which was certainly still found in 
Mauritania), but they introduced and used the Indian elephant. 
They also seem to have imported from Asia the peacock, still 
very common as a domestic bird in Tunisia. Compared with 
the Romans, however, they did little to open up the country, 
and their trade was restricted by jealous monopolies ; but their 
religion — the worship of Baal and other Syrian deities — spread 
to some extent among the Berbers, and the peculiar Semitic 
influence emanating from Carthaginian rule seems to have 
paved the way for the Judaizing of certain Berber tribes before 
and after the Roman Empire, and for the Muhammadanizing 
of the same at a still later date before the Jewish influence had 
quite died away. Amid all their wrangles, Berber and Semite 
throughout all the recorded history of North Africa seem to 
have unconsciously recognized that by descent and language 
they were more akin than either was with the Aryan peoples. 

The earliest historical connection between Europe and 
Africa was brought about by the Greeks, commencing some 
600 years before Christ ^ who settled in the country of Cyrene, 
the modem province of Barca. After the successful repulse of 
the Persians there was a great expansion of Greece. Prior to 
the historical establishment of settlements in the Ionian 
Islands, in Sicily, at Marseilles and on the east coast of Spain, 
Greek seamen had no doubt ranged the coasts of the Mediter- 
ranean, and from their adventures were evolved the fascinating 
stories of the Argonauts and Ulysses. Prehistoric settlements 
of Greeks on the coast of Tunis are argued by modern 
French ethnologists to have taken place, on the strength of the 
well-marked Greek type to be found amongst the present 
population, for instance, in the Cape Bon peninsula ; but these 
Greek types may be more probably descended from the Byzan- 
tine occupation of the country in the Christian era. The 

^ The computation given by Eusebius would, according to the late Sir 
E. H. Bunbury, place the founding of the colony in B.C. 631. 






V 



I.] Mediterranean and Muhammadan. 9 

Island of Lotos Eaters, however, of Greek mythology, would 
seem with likelihood to take its origin in the island of Jerba, 
where the date palm is indigenous \ But about ac 631 an 
expedition of Dorians from the island of Thera' founded 
Cyrene on the north coast of Africa, where that continent 
approaches closest to the Greek Archipelago. Around Cyrene 
were grouped four other cities — Barke, Teucheira, Euesperides, 
and Apollonia. This Greek colony continued to exist with 
varying fortunes — threatened at times with dissolution through 
the civil wars of the colonists and the intermittent attacks of 
the Berbers — ^till it came under the control of Rome 100 years 
before Christ It was occasionally dominated by the Greek 
dynasty of the Ptolemies in Egypt Its civilization was finally 
extinguished by the disastrous Arab invasion in the seventh 
century of the present era. But it had existed under various 
lords for 1300 years, and it is curious that during this long 
period its Greek settlers should have made no attempts to 
open up communication with inner Africa. The fact is that 
the Cyrenaica is separated from the Sudan by a more complete 
and absolute stretch of desert than intervenes between Tripoli, 
Tunis, or Morocco and the regions of the Niger and Lake 
Chad. 

In the adjoining countiy of Egypt the Greeks began to 
appear as merchants and travellers in the seventh century b.c. 
A Pharaoh named Psammetik had employed Greek mercenaries 
to assist him in establishing his claims to the throne of Egypt 
He rewarded their services by allowing their countrymen to 
trade with the ports of the Nile delta. The city of Naucratis 
was founded not far from the modem Rosetta, and became 
almost a Greek colony. Nearly 200 years later Herodotus, a 
native of Halicamassus (a Greek settlement in Asia Minor), 

^ The date was almost certainly the lotos of the ancients. It is much 
more likely to have made a profound impression on them by its honey- 
sweet pulp than the insipid berries of the Zizyphus. 

' The modem Santorin or Thira, the most southern of the Cyclades. 



lO The Colonization of Africa, [Chap. 

• 

visited Egypt and Cyrene. It is probable that he ascended the 
Nile as far as the First Cataract. He found his fellow-country- 
men settled as merchants and mechanics and also as soldiers 
in the delta of the Nile, and he records that the whole coast of 
Cyrenaica between Demah, near the borders of Egypt, and Ben- 
ghazi (Euesperides) was wholly occupied by Greek settlements. 

Through Herodotus and even earlier Greek writers, like 
Hecataeus (who derived his information from the Phoenicians), 
vague rumours reached the Greek world of the Niger River, of 
ostriches S the dwarf races of Central Africa (then perhaps 
lingering about the Sahara and the south of Morocco), and 
baboons, described as '' men with dogs' heads ^" 

The great development of the Persian Empire under Cyrus 
brought that power into eventual conflict with Egypt; and 
under Cambyses the Persians actually conquered Egypt (in 
525 B.c), besides then and subsequently dominating the 
western and southern parts of Arabia, from which they oc- 
casionally meddled with Ethiopia. The Persians were followed 
up more than two hundred years later by their great conqueror, 
Alexander of Macedonia, who added Egypt to his empire in 
332, and founded in that year in the westernmost reach of the 
Nile delta that great city which bears his name, and which has 
been at times the capital of Egypt. Alexander's conquest was 
succeeded in 323 by the rule of his general, Ptolomaeus Soter, 
who founded in 308 the famous Greek Monarchy of the Ptole- 
mies over Egypt, which lasted till near the commencement of the 
Christian era, when it was replaced by the domination of Rome. 

Subsequently the sceptre passed from Rome to Byzantium, 
and Eg3rpt again became subject to Greek influence. During the 
Ptolemies' rule and under the Byzantine Empire the Red Sea 
and the coast of Somaliland were to some extent explored, and 
it is said that the Greeks settled on the island of Socotra. From 

^ The * cranes' with whom the pigmies fought. 

^ Other evidence goes to show that baboons were found wild in the 
southern parts of Mauritania in ancient days. 



I.]. Mediterranean and Muhammadan, 1 1 

these Greek explorations, coupled with Phoenician traditions, 
the geography of Africa was hinted at as far as the neighbour- 
hood of Zanzibar, and even the Comoro Islands ; while the 
great lakes forming the head waters of the Nile were first placed 
on the map with some possibility of this information being 
based not on mere guesswork, but on information trans- 
mitted by the natives to Greek traders. 

Carthage fought with Rome and drew that power to North 
Africa. After destroying Carthage (in 146 B.C.X Rome settled 
in her place. She first allied herself with the Numidian and 
Mauritanian kings, then fought with them, and eventually 
annexed their countries. The name of Rome's first African 
colony, "Africa V' has since become the name of the entire 
continent in the speech of civilized peoples. Soon the Roman 
conquest spread westward from Carthage to the Atlantic coast 
of Morocco, eastward to Cyrene and Egypt, and southward to 
the very heart of the Sahara Desert in Fezzan (Phazania). 
Direct Roman rule however was chiefly observable in what is 
now the Regency of Tunis and in Egypt. Tunis for the 
number and magnificence of its Roman remains almost sur- 
passes Italy. Although the Romans were constantly warring 
with the Berbers, still the settled portions of the country 
colonized by European immigrants must have been remarkably 
prosperous, to judge by the high degree of civilization they 
attained, and the vast sums they were able to spend on public 
works — expenditure often due to the munificence of private 
citizens. The Roman colonization of this part of North Africa 
was thus a very real one. Latin became the tongue most 
commonly spoken, and the settled portions of what is now the 
Regency of Tunis and eastern Algeria became more like Italy 
in their buildings, mode of life, laws, manners, customs, and 
religion than any portion of Algeria has yet resembled France. 

^ This word after the Arab invasion of Tunis has survived in the form 
of ''Ifrildah.'* It was almost undoubtedly a Berber word in origin, which 
in Latin mouths assumed the form of ** Africa." 



12 The Colonization of Africa. [Chap. 

But the Romans in the interior districts seem to have made 
the mistake which the French have subsequently repeated of 
regarding North Africa with its fairly abundant native popula- 
tion (vigorous, warlike, and but little inferior in mind or body 
to the European invaders) as a colony rather than a protected 
state. They therefore aroused almost perpetually the hostility 
of the aborigines, who in their hatred of foreign rule welcomed 
any invader as a means of regaining their independence. 
Throughout 500 years of Roman rule there was scarcely a 
period so long as seventy years which passed without a Berber 
war. 

We have little evidence to entitle us to believe that the 
Romans became well acquainted with tropical Africa beyond 
the Sahara Desert ^ though a certain trade must have sprung 
up in the hands of Hamites, who brought the products of 
tropical Africa across the desert to exchange with Romanized 
traders for the manufactures of the Mediterranean world. The 
Romans (in the time of Nero) pushed their explorations up the 
Nile valley beyond the junction of the Bahr al Ghazal and the 
White Nile, but were soon discouraged. 

While these events were taking place in Northern Africa, 
and perhaps even before they began, peoples of Malay or 
Polynesian stock had been drifting across the Malay archipelago 
to Madagascar, carried thither by prevailing currents. These 
Malays — found purest in the modem Hovas — wrested Mada- 
gascar from the black man, whom they absorbed or exterminated, 

^ The only recorded instances of an apparent crossing of the Sahara by 
a Roman expedition are those cited by Marinus Tyrius (who was edited by 
Ptolemy the Alexandrian). Setting out from Fezzan (which the Romans had 
occupied in B.C. 19)* a general named Septimus Flaccus is said to have 
reached the Black Man's country across the desert in three months* march- 
ing. This occurred about the beginning of the Christian era. A few 
years later Julius Matemus starting from Garama (southern Fezzan) with 
the king of the Garamantes reached "Agisymba" (probably Kanem or 
Bornu) after four months' march and found the country swarming with 
rhinoceroses (which still abound there). 



I.] Mediterranean and Muhammadan, 13 

and henceforth they remained as the dominant race, to be sub- 
dued latterly, though not perhaps to be extinguished, by one 
of Rome's daughters. 

In the fifth century of the present era came the abrupt 
invasion of North Africa by the' Vandals, a Gothic people 
supposed to be not far off in origitY^irom the Anglo-Saxons. 
Roman hold over North Africa, though infinitely more com- 
plete and extensive than that of Carthage, had never succeeded 
during more than five centuries in completely subduing the 
Berbers, who still formed the bulk of the indigenous popula- 
tion. The independent Berbers were always ready to side 
with the enemies of Rome, and their adhesion made the 
Vandal conquest easy and rapid; just as their subsequent 
defection afterwards assisted the defeat of the demoralized 
Vandals by the Byzantine forces, after all North Africa had 
been ruled by Teutonic kings for seventy years. 

The Byzantine Empire, recovering by degrees portions of 
the Western Empire, reconquered the province of Africa 
(modem Tunis), and to some extent dominated all the north 
African coast until the Muhammadan invasion. 

When the first Muhammadan invasion took place in the 
seventh century the Berbers at first sided with the Arabs, and 
assisted in the defeat of the Byzantine forces, through which 
action they did ultimately enjoy as a race several centuries of 
quasi-independence. 

The effect on Africa of the development of Muhammadanism 
was almost more marked in its results than in Asia. Prior to 
the Muhammadan invasions nothing was known of Africa 
south of the Sahara which could be described as certain 
knowledge. A few vague traditions and semi-fabulous stories 
of Negro Africa reached and satisfied Greek and Roman 
inquirers. But north of the tenth degree of north latitude the 
Arab invaders and missionaries cleared a rough path across 
Africa, letting in a dubious light on its geography and 
humanity. 



14 The Colonization of Africa, [Chap. 

In 640 Amr-bin-al-Asi invaded Egypt from Arabia, and 
he or his lieutenants pushed thence into Tripoli, and 
even into Fezzan. A little later (647—8), under Abdallah- 
bin-Abu-Sarh and Abdallah-bin-Zubeir, the Arabs invaded 
Tripoli, and fought with a Byzantine governor known 
as Gregory the Patrician (who had just before rebelled from 
Byzantium, and proclaimed himself Emperor of Africa, with 
his seat of government in central Tunisia). The battle lasted 
for days, but Gregory was overmastered by a ruse and killed. 
The Arabs pursued his defeated army into the heart of Tunisia, 
and even into Algeria. For a pajrment of 300 quintals of gold 
they agreed to evacuate Tunisia, but they left behind an agent 
or representative at Suffetula (the modem Sbeitla), which had 
been Gregory's capital. 

In 661 the first dissenting sect of Islam arose, the Khariji. 
These schismatics preached the equality of all good Moslems — 
a kind of communism. As they were much persecuted some 
of the Khariji fled at this period to the coast of Tunis, and in 
the island of Jerba their descendants remain to this day, while 
their doctrines were adopted by the bulk of the Berber popu- 
lation of that island*. 

In 669 the Arab invasions of North Africa were resumed. 
Oqba-bin-Nafa overran Fezzan, and was appointed by the 
Omeiyad Khalif governor of "Ifrikiah" (modem Tunis). The 
Byzantines were defeated in several battles, and Kairwan' was 
founded as a Muhammadan capital about 673. Oqba was 

^ Jerba, usually called Meninx by the ancients, is supposed to have 
been the Island of Lotos Eaters of Greek mythology. 

^ The origin of the name Kairwan has been much disputed. When I 
visited this place I was told by an Arab that the word was the Arab name 
for a small bustard-like courser (a bird which the French called Poule de 
Kairouan), and that seeing this bird in large numbers — where it is still to 
be found — ^in the marshy plain on which the city was built the Arabs gave 
its name to the town. Kairwan was chosen as the site for the Muhammadan 
capital by the early Arab invaders because it was considered sufficiently far 
from the sea-coast to be beyond the reach of attack from a Byzantine fleet. 



I.] Mediterranean and Muhammadan, 15 

replaced for a time by Dinar Bul-Muhajr, who pushed his 
conquests as far west as Tlemsan, on the borders of modem 
Morocco, Oqba resumed command in 681, and advanced 
with his victorious army to the shore of the Atlantic Ocean, 
and received a somewhat friendly reception from Count Julian 
at Ceuta^ (Septa). 

But now the Berbers began to turn against the Arab 
invaders, finding them worse for rapacity than Roman or 
Greek. A quondam ally, the Berber prince Kuseila, united 
his forces with the Greek and Roman settlers, and inflicted 
such a severe defeat on Oqba near Biskra that he was enabled 
afterwards to rule in peace as king over Mauritania for five 
years, being accepted as ruler by the European settlers. 
Kuseila however was defeated and killed by another Arab 
invasion in 688, though these same invaders subsequently 
retired and suffered a defeat at the hands of the Byzantines in 
Barka. Queen Dihia-al-Kahina' succeeded her relative Kuseila. 
The Arab general, Hassan-bin-Numan, was successful in taking 
Carthage (698), but afterwards was defeated and driven out of 
Tunisia by Queen Kahina. Unfortunately this brave woman 
ordered a terrible devastation of the fertile province of Africa, 
so that the want of food supply might deter the Arabs from 
returning ; and this action on her part was the first step in the 
deterioration of this magnificent country, now known as Tunis. 
She was finally defeated and slain by the Arabs under Hassan- 
bin-Numan in 705. Arab conquests then once more surged 
ahead under Musa-bin-Nusseir. The whole of Morocco was 
conquered except Ceuta, where they were repelled by Count 
Julian. To some extent also Morocco was Muhammadanized ; 
and no doubt through all these invasions the Arabs experienced 

1 Count Julian appears to have been a Byzantine governor on the coast 
of Morocco, who after the Byzantine downfaU to some extent attached 
himself to the Romanized Gothic kingdom of Spain. 

2 This is the Arab rendering of her name. Al-Kahina means "the 
wise woman" or "prophetess." 



1 6 The Colonization of Africa, [Chap. 

little difficulty in converting the Berbers to Islam, even though 
they might subsequently enrage them by their depredations. 
Before the arrival of the Arabs the Berbers in many districts 
had strong leanings towards Judaism ^ Amongst the Berber 
chiefs converted to Muhammadanism by the invasion of Mo- 
rocco was a man of great gallantry known as Tank, who 
became a general in the Arab army. Tarik was left in charge 
of Tangiers by Musa, and entered into friendly relations with 
Count Julian at Ceuta. Count Julian having quarrelled with 
the last Gothic king of Spain urged Tarik to invade that country* 
After a recognizance near the modem Tarifa Tarik invaded 
Spain at or near Gibraltar^ with 13,000 Berbers officered by 
300 Arabs, and was shortly afterwards followed by Musa with 
reinforcements ; and Spain was thus conquered. 

For a few years longer all North Africa remained loosely 
connected with the Khalifs of Bagdad ; then Idris, a descendant 
of Ali, and consequently of Muhammad,' established himself in 
Morocco as an independent sultan, afterwards asserting his 
claim to be Khalif and Imam. At his death he was succeeded 
by his son Idris II, and his blood is supposed to have filtered 
down through many generations and devious ways to the 
present ruling family in Morocco. During the whole of the 
ninth century Tunis was ruled by an independent dynasty 
known as the Aghlabite from Aghlab, a successful soldier, who 
founded it. This again was succeeded by the Arab Fatimite 
dynasty, derived from the Fatimite Caliphate of Egypt', All 
this time the Arab element in North Africa was extremely 
slight, represented by a few thousand bold, rapacious warriors, 

^ Jewish colonies began to settle in North Africa soon after the de- 
struction of Jerusalem, or even as far back as the Ptolemaic rule over 
Egypt. 

^ The rocky peninsula where Tarik landed was called by the Arabs 
Jibl-al-Tarik, a name which subsequently became corrupted by the 
Spaniards into Gibraltar. 

' This dynasty had foimded Cairo (Al-Kahirah) in 969 A.D. 



I.] Mediterranean and Muhantmadan. 17 

who had in a marvellous manner, difficult to explain, forced 
their religion, and to some extent their language and rule on 
several millions of Berbers, and on some hundreds of thou- 
sands of Romans, Greeks, Goths, and Jews. But in the 
eleventh century took place those Arab invasions of North 
Africa which have been the main source of the Arab element 
in the northern part of the continent, and without which 
Muhammadanism might have faded away, and a series of 
independent Berber states have been formed once more under 
Christian rule. 

About 1045 two Arab tribes, the Beni-Hilal and the Beni- 
Soleim (originally from Central Arabia, and deported thence 
to Upper Egypt), left the right bank of the Nile to invade 
Barbary. They had made themselves troublesome in Upper 
Egypt, and the weakened rulers of that country to get rid of 
them had urged them to invade north-western Africa. About 
two or three hundred thousand crossed the desert and reached 
the frontiers of Tunis and Tripoli. They defeated the Berbfers 
at the battle of Haideran, and then settled in southern Tunis 
and western Tripoli. Eventually some portion of them was 
unseated by the Berbers and driven westward into Morocco. 
They were succeeded by fresh drafts from Egypt and Arabia, 
but many of these later invaders settled in Barka and eastern 
Tripoli. Later on other Arab tribes left the West coast of 
Arabia, and settled on the central Nile (avoiding the Abyssinian 
highlands, where they were kept at bay by their Christianized 
relatives of far earlier immigrations). From the upper Nile 
they directed many and repeated invasions of Central and 
Western Africa. To this day tribes of more or less pure Arab 
descent are found in the district of Lake Chad, in Darfur, 
Wadai, and in the western Sahara north of Senegambia. 

About the same time began the real revival of the Roman 
Empire from the onslaught of Arabia and the prior Teutonic 
invasions. The cities of Italy, forming themselves into repub- 
lics, were tempted by their extending commerce to interfere 

J. A. 2 



1 8 The Colonization of Africa. [Chap. 

with North Africa. The Venetians, in spite of the hare-brained 
crusades, and the damage that they did by reviving Muham- 
madan fanaticism, began to open up those commercial rela- 
tions with Egypt, which for four and a half centuries gave 
them the monopoly of the Levant and Indian trade. The 
Normans, who had conquered the Saracens of Sicily and 
Malta S and had founded the Kingdom of Naples, commenced 
a series of bold attacks on the coasts of Tunis and Tripoli, 
which did not however lead to permanent occupation. The 
Pisans and Genoese began* a series of sharp reprisals against 
the Moorish pirates, and so inspired some respect for Italy iii 
the minds of Tunisians and Algerians. Afterwards they were 
enabled to open up commercial relations, especially with the 
north coast of Tunis, and these, to the ^vantage of both Italy 
and Barbary, continued, with fitful interruptions, until the 
1 6th century. 

In the I ith century another great Berber movement took 
place — the rise of the "Almoravides." The name of this sect 
of Muhammadan reformers is a Spanish corruption of Al- 
Murabitifiy which is the plural of Marabut^ and Marabut is 
derived from the place-name Ribat^ meaning ''the people 
living at Ribat," though the word has since come to mean 
in North Africa and elsewhere a Muhammadan saint. The 
Almoravides owed their origin to one of the first of the African 
Mahdis or Messiahs, of whom the tale has subsequently been 
repeated and repeated with such servile imitation of detail 
that one can only imagine the mass of African Muhammadans 
to have been without any philosophical reflections on history 
or any sense of humour, since Mahdi after Mahdi arises as an 
ascetic saint, and dies a licentious monarch, whose power 
passes into the hands of a lieutenant, who is the first in the 

^ Malta is said to have been colonized by the Phoenicians and to have 
retained Phoenician words in its dialect to the present day. Then came 
Greeks, Sicilians, Romans and Arabs — the last invaders leaving their 
tongue in Malta to be spoken to this day. 



I.] Mediterranean and Muhammadan. 19 

line of a slowly crumbling dynasty. Far away across the 
Sahara Desert, and near the Niger, was a tribe of Tawareq 
Berbers known as the Lamta or Lemtuna, who had been 
recently converted to Muhammadanism. The chief of this 
tribe, returning from a pilgrimage to Mecca, met a Berber of 
South Morocco known as Ibn Yasin, who on his Meccan 
pilgrimage had acquired a great reputation for austere holiness. 
The chief of the Lemtuna invited Ibn Yasin to his court, and 
the latter, after arriving in the Niger countries, established him- 
self on an island named Ribat, on the upper Niger, where he 
collected adherents round him and promulgated his puritanical 
reforms. Gradually Ibn Yasin's influence extended over the 
whole Lamta or Lemtuna tribe, and he urged these Berbers 
towards the conversion of Senegambia. It was mainly through 
his influence that the Berbers were carried by their conquests 
into Senegambia and Nigeria. Then he led them north-west 
across the Sahara Desert and they conquered Morocco, and 
from thence invaded Muhammadan Spain. By this time Ibn 
Yasin, the teacher, was dead, but the warrior chief of the Lamta 
tribe — Yussuf-bin-Tashfin — had become sovereign of Morocco 
and Spain, and had assumed the title of Amir-al-Mumenin\ 
A hundred years afterwards another Berber Mahdi arose in the 
person of Ibn Tumert, who was "run" by Abd-al-Mumin of 
Tlemsan, and the programme was the same — ^to start with 
puritanical reform, afterwards degenerating rapidly into mere 
lust of conquest. This small sect known by us as the '^Almo- 
hades" (from Al-Muahadim or "Disciples of the Unity of 
God*") attacked the decaying power of the Almoravides. 
Ibn Tumert — an exact parallel of all the Mahdis — died early 
in the struggle, but was succeeded by the man who "ran" him, 
Abd-al-Mumin, as " Khalifa," who pursued his conquests until 
he had brought under his power all North Africa and Muham- 
madan Spain, and had founded the greatest Berber empire 

1 Prince of the Faithful. 

a From the Arabic Wahad, "The One." 



20 The Colonization of Africa. [Chap. 

that ever existed. Concurrently, however, with the sway of his 
overlordship the Ziri and Hamadi dynasties of Berber sultans 
continued to exist at Tunis and in eastern Algeria. After ruling 
for a century the Almohade empire broke up, and was succeeded 
by independent rulers in Tunis and Tripoli, in Algeria, and in 
Morocco. Remarkable among these was the Hafs dynasty, 
which governed Tunis and part of Tripoli for 300 years, and 
proved the most beneficent of all Muhammadan rulers in 
North Africa. Abu Muhammad Hafsi was a Berber governor 
of Tunis under one of the last of the Almohade emperors, and 
eventually became the independent sovereign of Tunisia. 
The Almohade rulers towards the end of the 12th century had 
transported most of the turbulent Arabs of southern and 
central Tunisia to Morocco, where for the first time the Arabs 
began to form an appreciable element in the population. 
About this time Kurdish and Turkish mercenaries commenced 
finding employment in Tunisia and in Tripoli under chiefs 
who rebelled against the Almohade empire. Concurrently 
with the Hafs in Tunis the descendants of Abd-al-Wadi and 
Ibn Merin ruled in Morocco and in western Algeria. They 
also were Arabized Berbers. In 1270 that truly good but 
erratic monarch, St Louis of France, deflected a crusade in- 
tended for the Levant to Tunis, as being a Muhammadan 
country much nearer at hand and more accessible. He landed 
at Carthage, but owing to failing health his imposing invasion 
was followed by military inaction. He died at Carthage, and 
a capitulation subsequently took place by which the Crusaders 
retired from Tunisia. After their departure the Muhammadans 
entirely destroyed all that remained of Roman Carthage, as 
the buildings had afforded to the invaders the protection of 
fortresses. Up till that time a good deal of Roman civilization 
had lingered in Tunisia, but now the country became more 
and more Arabized. Christian bishops, however, continued 
to exist, and Christians were not much persecuted till the 
1 6th century, when the attacks of the Spaniards, and the 



«■ 



I.] Mediterranean and Muhammadan, 21 

intervention of the Turks roused Muhammadan fanaticism to 
a degree which only began to abate within the memory of the 
present generation. 

During this time Spain, which had been once more riveted 
with Muhammadan fetters by that extraordinary incursion of 
the Berbers, was rapidly returning to Christian rule, and in 
the 15th century the kings of Spain and Portugal felt them- 
selves sufficiently strong to carry the war into the enemy ^s 
country. In 141 5 the Portuguese army, to which was attached 
Prince Henry, afterwards known as the Navigator, captured 
the Moorish citadel of Ceuta on the Morocco coast, and from 
this episode started the magnificent Portuguese discoveries 
initiated by Prince Henry which will be described in the next 
chapter. The Portuguese subsequently captured Tangier, 
Tetwan, and most of the ports along the Atlantic coast of 
Morocco. Spain, bursting out a little later, when she had 
conquered the last Moorish kingdom on Spanish soil (Granada), 
seized Melilla in 1490, and, on one pretext or another, port 
after port along the coasts of Algeria and Tunis, until by 1540 
she had established garrisons at Oran, Bugia, Bona, Hunein, 
and Goletta^; and instigated the Knights of Malta — the out- 
come of the crusades — to hold for a time the town of Tripoli 
in Barbary, and the Tunisian island of Jerba. The Portuguese 
kings by the middle of the i6th century were practically 
suzerains of Morocco. The penultimate ruler of the brilliant 
House of Avis — young Dom Sebastiao — determined in 1578, 
soon after his accession to the throne of Portugal at the age of 
23, to thoroughly conquer Morocco. He landed with 100,000 
men at Acila^, then marched inland and took up a position 
behind the Wed-al-Makhazen on the fatal field of Kasr-al-Kabir. 
But he was utterly defeated by the Moors under Mulai Abd-al- 
Malek (who died during the battle) and Abu*l Abbas Ahmad- 

1 She also later on left traces of her temporary occupation on the island 
of Jerba, where a fine Spanish fortress remains intact to this day. 

2 Arzila. 



y 



22 The Colonization of Africa, [Chap. 

al-Mansur. The latter became Sultan of Morocco after the 
defeat and death of the unfortunate Dom Sebastiao. Never- 
theless, the Portuguese retained most of their fortified ports on 
the Atlantic coast of Morocco, and also Ceuta. During the 
60 years of the abeyance of the Portuguese monarchy these 
places became nominally Spanish, but returned to Portugal 
with the restoration of the House of Bragan^a, though Ceuta 
and Melilla were subsequently ceded to Spain, and Tangier to 
England. Thus ended what might very well have been, but 
for the battle of Kasr-al-Kabir, the Portuguese Empire of 
Morocco. 

At the end of the 13th century, certain sharifs^ of Yanbu, 
the coast port of the holy city of Medina in Arabia, who 
professed to be descendants of Ali, the son-in-law of the 
Prophet, following returning Moorish pilgrims, established 
themselves at Sijilmassa or Tafilat in South Morocco, and one 
of them, Hassan-bin-Kassim, increasing greatly in power, be- 
came the founder of the present Sharifian dynasty of Morocco ; 
though some centuries elapsed before these Sharifian sultans 
succeeded in establishing universal rule. At the close of the 
15 th century a Muhammadan Negro dynasty had arisen on 
the upper Niger, and in the western Sudan. One of these 
Negro kings, who made a pilgrimage to Mecca, obtained from 
the descendant of the Abbaside khalifs residing at Cairo the 
title of " Lieutenant of the Prince of Believers in the Sudan." 
He made Timbuktu' his capital, and it became a place of 
^great learning and flourishing commerce. His grandson, Ishak- 
bin-Sokya*, became rich and powerful, and attracted the rapacity 
of the Sharifian emperor of Morocco (Abu'l Abbas Mansur, 
who had distinguished himself by wiping out the Portuguese 
under Dom Sebastiao at the battle of Kasr-al-Kabir), who had 

^ Sharif i plur. Skotfa, means in Arabic "nobly bom.*' 

' Timbuktu had been founded by a Tawareq (Berber) tribe about 

HOC A.D. 

' or Askia. 



I.] Mediterranean and Muhammadan, 23 

recently extended his rule across the Sahara to the oasis of 
Twat*. The Moorish emperor attempted to pick a quarrel by 
disputing this Negro king's right to the title of Lieutenant of 
the Khalifs in the Sudan, demanded his vassalage, and a tax 
on the Sahara salt mines along the route to Timbuktu. Ishak- 
bin-Sokya refused, whereupon a Moorish army under Juder 
Basha was despatched by Abu'l Abbas-al-Mansur in 1590 to 
conquer the Sudan. This army crossed the Sahara, defeated 
Ishak Sokya, and captured Timbuktu, but raised the siege of 
Gaghu or Gao, lower down the Niger, whither Ishak had fled. 
But a more vigorous commander, Mahmud Basha, completed 
the Moorish conquest of the Sudan, a conquest which extended 
in its effects to Bornu on the one hand and to Senegambia on 
the other, and only faded away in the i8th century, mainly 
owing to the uprise of the Fula, and the attacks of the Tawareq. 
Gradually all Morocco was brought under Sharifian rule, all 
European hold over the country was eradicated, and the reign 
of culminating glory was that of the emperor Mulai Ismail, who 
ruled for 57 years, and is said to have left living children to the 
extent of 548 boys and 340 girls. Mulai Ismail died in 1727. 
He had attained to and maintained himself in supreme power 
by the introduction of regiments of well-drilled Sudan Negroes. 
Once more, in fact, in African history the black man of the 
Sudan was the indirect means of driving back the civilization 
of Europe. Meantime, the Berber and the Arab power was 
weakening in Tunis, Tripoli, and Egypt. The Turks, who had 
replaced the Arabs of Mesopotamia, Syria, and Asia Minor as 
Muhammadan rulers, had captured Constantinople in 1453, 
and had seized Egypt in 15 17, and were becoming the rising 
Muhammadan power. When the Muhammadans of North 
Africa appealed to Turkey for help against the attacks of 
the Christian Spaniards the Turks took advantage of their 

^ Now in the hinterland of Algeria, and perhaps to be occupied some 
day by the French. 



24 The Colonization of Africa. [Chap. 

intervention to establish, through the Turkish Corsairs, Turkish 
regencies in Algeria (15 19), Tunis (1573), and Tripoli (1551)^ 
while Egypt came directly under Turkish rule through the 
heterogeneous Mamluk guard, which furnished Circassian mili- 
tary rulers. With the exception of Morocco, which still remains 
to this day an independent Berber state, Turkish control re- 
placed Arab influence in northern Africa, and extended by 
degrees far into the Sahara Desert to the old kingdom of 
Fezzan, and along the coasts of the Red Sea. ''Plus 9a 
change, plus c'est la meme chose " — no matter whether Turk, 
Circassian, Albanian, Arab, Berber, or Arabized Negro ruled, 
Muhammadan influence and Arab culture continued to spread 
over all the northern half of Africa. Somaliland, Sennar, Nubia, 
Kordofan, Darfur, Wadai, Bomu, Hausa^land, and the Sahara, 
much of Senegambia, and most of the country within the bend 
of the Niger and along the banks of the upper Volta were con- 
verted to Muhammadanism, and became familiar with the Arab 
tongue as the religious language, and with some degree of 
Arab civilization. 

The pre-Islamic settlements of southern Arabs along the 
East coast of Africa were revived by fresh bands of militant 
traders and missionaries of Islam. Arabs established them- 
selves once more at Sofala, at Sena and Quelimane on the 
lower Zambezi, at ■ Mo9ambique, Kilwa, Zanzibar, Mombasa, 
and various ports on the Somali coast. A colony of Muham- 
madanized Persians joined them in the loth century at Lamu, 
and Persian as well as Muhammadan Indian influence began 
to be very apparent in architecture on the East coast of Africa. 

^ Algeria and Tunis were conquered by Turkish pirates, quite as much 
from the mild Berber dynasties possessing them as from the Spanish en- 
croachments. Tripoli was taken from the Knights of Malta. Gradually 
all these three Regencies detached themselves from the Turkish Empire in 
everything but the mere acknowledgment of suzerainty; but, in 1835, the 
Turks abruptly resumed the direct control of Tripoli and Barka, to which 
they added Fezzan in 1842. 



I.] Mediterranean and Mu/tatnmadan, 25 

The powerful Sultanate of Kilwa was founded in the loth 
century, and exercised for some time a dominating influence 
over the other Arab settlements on the East coast of Africa. 
Arabs had also discovered the island of Madagascar, which 
they first made clearly known to history. They had settled as 
traders on its north and north-west coasts, while the adjoining 
Comoro Islands or Islands of the "Full Moon" (Komr) 
became little Arab sultanates practically in the hands of Arab- 
ized Negroes. Until the coming of the Portuguese in the i6th 
century these Arab East African states were sparsely colonized 
by Himyaritic or south Arabian Arabs from the Hadhramaut, 
Yaman, and Aden. But a development of power and enter- 
prise amongst the Arabs of Maskat, which led to their driving 
away the Portuguese from their own country, and subsequently 
attacking them on the East coast of Africa, caused the Maskat^ 
Arab to become the dominant type. The Maskat Arabs 
founded the modern Zanzibar sultanate, which quite late in the 
present century was separated by the intervention of the 
British Government from the parent state of 'Oman. 

As the result of the Muhammadan invasion of Africa from 
Arabia — only just brought to a close at the end of the 19th 
century — it may be stated that Arabized Berbers ruled in north 
and north-west Africa; Arabized Turks ruled in north and 
north-east Africa; Arabized Negroes ruled on the Niger, and 
in the central Sudan ; Arabs ruled more directly on the Nile, 
and on the Nubian coast ; and the Arabs of south Arabia and 
of 'Oman governed the East African coast, and eventually 
carried their influence, and to some extent their rule, inland 
to the great central African lakes, and even to the upper 
Congo. 

Muhammadan colonization of Africa was the first step in 
the bringing of that part of the continent beyond the Sahara 

^ or 'Oman. Maskat is the capital of the principality of 'Oman (a word 
which-is really pronounced *Uman)in East Arabia, ruled by an "Imam" or 
laicized descendant of a line of preacher-kings or ** Prince Bishops." 



26 The Colonization of Africa, [Chap. i. 

and upper Egypt within the cognizance of the world of civiliza- 
tion and history. The Arabs brought with them from S3nia 
and Mesopotamia their architecture-p* Saracenic " — which was 
an offshoot of the Byzantine S with a dash of Persian or Indian 
influence. This architecture received at the hands. of the 
Berbers and Egyptians an extraordinarily beautiful develop- 
ment, and penetrated on the one hand into Spain, and less 
directly into Italy, and on the other reached the lower Niger, 
the upper Nile, the vicinity of the Zambezi, and the north 
coast of Madagascar. J They spread also certain ideas of Greek 
medicine and philosophy and taught the Koran, which 
admitted all those Berber and Negro populations into that 
circle of civilized nations which has founded so much of its 
hopes and philosophy and culture on the Semitic Scriptures. 
And through their contact with Europeans, Arabs and Arabized 
Berbers first sketched out with some approach to correctness 
the geography of inner Africa, and of the African coasts and 
islands. The direct and immediate result of this Muham- 
madan conquest of Africa was the drawing into that continent 
of the Portuguese, themselves but recently emancipated from 
Muhammadan rule, and still retaining some conversance with 
Arabic; who, thanks to their intimate acquaintance with 
Muhammadans, and with this far-spread language used in their 
commerce and religion, were now able to take a step further 
in the colonization of Africa by superior races. 

^ The architectural style known as Saracenic made its b^innings in 
Inner Syria and Mesopotamia a century or nearly so before the Mu- 
hammadan invasion; and the ''Horseshoe Arch'* or the arch prolonged 
for more than half a circle was invented by Hellenized Syrians in the sixth 
century of this era. The * Mahrab' of the Mosque and some of the doming 
were added by the Arabs and actually descend from the s3rmbols of phallic 
worship. 



[ I IndlcBtea approElmatc srea over which IsUm is the domiMting TellgioD at the p 
(N.B. Tht fracnt ana h lurgir than it hii etftr ban in t)u paiti 
Dotted sfiott qfcffltmr iUuttrates tporadic ettabtiikments of Muianimaflamn 
Tkt BcKKdariti s/mast imferlant MuMai^miuiaH Emfim wAn at Iktirgn 
txUxt an MHva m colovnd &im 



CHAPTER 11. 

THE PORTUGUESE IN AFRICA. 

The mother of Portugal was Galicia, that north-western 
province of the present Kingdom of Spain. It was here at 
any rate that the Portuguese language developed from a dialect 
of provincial Latin, and hence that the first expeditions started 
to drive the Moors out of that territory which subsequently 
became the Kingdom of Portugal. A large element in the 
populations of Galicia and of the northern parts of Portugal 
was Gothic. The Suevi settled here in considerable numbers, 
and their descendants at the present day show the fine tall 
figures, flaxen or red hair, and blue eyes so characteristic of 
the* northern Teuton. Central Portugal is mainly of Latinized 
Iberian stock, while southern Portugal retains to this day a 
large element of Moorish blood. The northern part of 
Portugal was first wrested from the Moors by a French 
adventurer (Henry of Burgundy) in the service of the king of 
Leon, and this man's son became the first king of Portugal. 
Little by little the Moors were driven southward, till at last 
the southernmost province of Algarve* was conquered, and at 
the close of the 12th century the Moors had ceased to rule 
any longer in the Roman Lusitania. 

* From the Arabic Al-gharb, the 'west,* the * sunset.* The title of 
the King of Portugal is "King of Portugal and the Algarves, on this side 
and on the other side of the sea in Africa, etc." 



28 The Colonization of Africa, [Chap. 

But the Portuguese, like the Spaniards, not content with 
ridding the Peninsula of the Moorish invaders, attempted to 
carry the war into the enemy's country, urged thereto by the 
irritating attacks of Moorish pirates. In 1415, as already 
related, a Portuguese army landed on the^cSSSnjnSTOrocCb, 
and captured the citadel of Ceuta — the Roman Septa. 

Bit^ ^y bit the Portuguese j:ontinued con quering the 

«ttl< 






to wns of ^Mo£Q£co^j_or^ building new settlements — till 
inJthe_second_^alLiiL±he-j^tk^c^ theT:ing of Portugal 

was jlm ost entitled to that clair a_QYer-iiie-^Ejiipire of Morocco 
wEich still asser ts itself in the formal settin gjorth of his 
jdjgnities: Mosf~of these posts were either abandoned some 
yeStrs^ before or just after the defeat of the young king 
"Sebastiao o Desejado" — Sebastian the desired — who at the 
age of only 23 was defeated and slain by the founder of the V 
Sharifian dynasty of Morocco on the fatal field of Al Kasr-al- i 
Kabir in 1578. Ceuta was taken over by Spain in 1580, was 
garrisoned, that is, by Spanish soldiers^: the two or three ^ 
other Morocco towns which remained in Portuguese hands ^4 
after the battle of Kasr-al-Kabir, being garrisoned by Por- ^ 
tuguese soldiers, reverted to the separated crown of Portugal in ^ 
1640. Of these Tangier was ceded to England in 1662, Saffi ^ 
was given up to the Moors in 1641, other points were snatched i \ 
by the Moors in 1689, ^ind Mazagan was finally lost in 1770. ^ 

The second son of the king Dom Joao I (who reigned \ 
from 1385 to 1433) and Philippa, daughter of the English - 
John of Gaunt, was named Henry (Henrique), and was xj* 
subsequently known to all time as " Henry the Navigator '' ^ 
from the interest he took in maritime exploration. He was 
present at the siege of Ceuta in 141 5, and after its capture was 
said to have inquired with much interest as to the condition of 
Morocco and of the unknown African interior, and to have 
heard from the Moors of TimbuktUr 

^ And was finally ceded to Spain by Portugal in 1668. 



II.] The Portuguese in Africa. 29 

On his return to Portugal he established himself on the 
rocky promontory of Sagres, and devoted himself to the 
encouragement of the exploration of the coasts of Africa. 
Under his direction expedition after expedition set out. First 
Cape Bojador to the south of the Morocco coast was doubled 
by Gil Eannes in 1434'. In 1441-2 Antonio Gonsalvez and 
Nuno Tristam passed Cape Blanco on the Sahara coast, and 
reached the Rio d'Ouro or River of Gold*, from whence they 
brought back some gold dust and ten slaves. These slaves 
having been sent by Prince Henry to Pope Martin V, the 
latter conferred upon Portugal the right of possession and 
sovereignty over all countries that might be discovered between 
Cape Blanco and India. In 1445 a Portuguese named Joao 
Fernandez made the first over-land exploration, starting alone 
from the mouth of the Rio d'Ouro, and travelling over 
seven months in the interior. In the following year the river 
Sienegal was reached, and Cape Verde was doubled by Diniz 
Diaz, and in 1448 the coast was explored as far as Sierra 
Leone. In 1455-6 Cadamosto (a Venetian in Portuguese 
service) discovered the Cape Verde Islands, and visited the 
rivers Senegal and Gambia, bringing back much information in 
regard to Timbuktu, the trade in gold and ivory with the coast, 
and the over-land trade routes from the Niger to the Mediter- 
ranean. It is asserted by the Portuguese that some years later 
two Portuguese envoys actually reached Timbuktu ; but the 
truth of this assertion is somewhat problematical, as had they 
done so they would probably have dissipated to some extent 
the excessive exaggerations regarding the wealth and import- 
ance of that Negro capital. In 1462, two years after the 
death of Prince Henry, Pedro Da Cintra explored the coast as 
far as modem Liberia. By 1471 the whole Guinea coast had 



1 Though it had been known to Italian and Nonnan navigators a 
century earlier. 

^ Only an inlet in the Desert coast. 



30 The Colonization of Africa, [Chap. 

been followed past the Niger delta, and as far south as the 
Ogowe. 

In 1448, under Prince Henry's directions, a fort had been 
built on the Bay of Arguin, to the south of Cape Blanco, and 
a few years later a Portuguese company was formed for carry- 
ing on a trade with the Guinea coast in slaves and gold. The 
first expedition sent out by this company resulted in the 
despatch of 200 Negro slaves to Portugal, and thenceforward 
the slave trade grew and prospered, and at first resulted in 
little or no misery for the slaves, who exchanged a hunted, 
hand-to-mouth existence among savage tribes in Africa for 
relatively kind treatment and comfortable living in beautiful 
Portugal, where they were much in favour as house servants. 
In 1 48 1 the Portuguese, who had been for some years ex- 
amining the Gold Coast, decided to build a fort to protect 
their trade there. In 1482 the fort was completed and the 
Portuguese flag raised in token of sovereignty. This strong 
place, for more than a hundred years in possession of the 
Portuguese, was called Sao Jorge da Mina*. In the same year 
in which this first Portuguese post was established on the Gold 
Coast*, exploration of the African coast was carried on beyond 
the mouth of the Ogowe by Diogo Cam, who three years later 
— ^in 1485, discovered the mouth of the Congo, and sailed up 
that river about as far as Boma. Diogo Cam's discoveries 
were continued by Bartolomeu Diaz, who, passing along the 
south-west coast of Africa, rounded the Cape of Good Hope 
in stormy weather without knowing it, and touched land at 
Algoa Bay, whence, on his return journey, he sighted that 
famous cape, which King John II christened "the Cape of 
Good Hope." 

1 Nowadays known as Elmina. 

* As will be seen in another chapter, there are traditions of Norman 
merchants from Dieppe having established forts or trading stations along 
the West African coast in the 13th century, especially at " La Mine d*Or" — 
Elmina — where the Normans possibly preceded the Portuguese. 



II.] The Portuguese in Africa, 31 

Already the Portuguese were full of the idea of rounding 
Africa and so reaching India. They had begun to hear from 
the Arabs, who were now in full possession of the East African 
coast, rumours of the circumnavigability of Africa ^ A Por- 
tuguese named Pero de Covilhao started for Egypt in i486, 
and travelled to India by way of the Red Sea. On his return 
he visited most of the Arab settlements on the East coast of 
Africa as far south as Sofala. The information he brought 
back decided the despatch of an expedition under Vasco da 
Gama to pass round the Cape of Good Hope to the Arab 
colonies, and thence to India. Vasco da Gama set out in 
1497, and made his famous voyage round the Cape (calling at 
and naming Natal on the way) to Sofala, where he picked up 
an Arab pilot who took him to Malindi, and thence to India. 
On his return journey Vasco da Gama took possession of the 
island of Mo9ambique, and visited the Quelimane river near 
the mouth of the Zambezi. Numerous well-equipped ex- 
peditions sailed for India within the years following Vasco da 
Gama's discoveries. While India was the main goal before the 
eyes of their commanders, considerable attention was bestowed 
upon the founding of forts along the East coast of Africa, both 
to protect the Cape route to India, and to further Portuguese 
trade with the interior of Africa. In nearly every case the 
Portuguese merely supplanted the Arabs, who — possibly them- 
selves supplanting Phoenicians or Sabaeans — had established 
themselves at Sofala, Quelimane, Sena (on the Zambezi), 
Mozambique, Kilwa, Zanzibar, Mombasa, Malindi, Lamu, and 
Magdishu. Sofala was taken by Pedro de Anhaya in 1505 ; 
Tristan d'Acunha captured Socotra and Lamu in 1507, in 
which year also Duarte de Mello captured and fortified 
Mozambique. Kilwa and the surrounding Arab establish- 
ments were seized between 1506 and 1508, and a little later 

^ It was even alleged that certain Arab ships had been driven by stress 
of weather past the Cape of Good Hope, and had brought back word 
of the northward trend of the west coast. 



32 The Colonization of Africa, [Chap. 

the remaining places already mentioned on the East coast 
of Africa were in possession of the Portuguese, who had also 
Aden on the south coast of Arabia, the island of Ormuz on the 
Persian Gulf, and various places on the coast of 'Oman, includ- 
ing Maskat. Pero de Covilhao had already, as has been 
mentioned, visited the East coast of Africa (after travelling 
overland to India) before Vasco da Gama's rounding of the 
Cape. He then directed his steps to Abyssinia, of which he 
had heard when in Cairo. 

Before this period of the world's history, and from the time 
of the earlier crusades, a legend had grown of the existence of 
Prester John — some Christian monarch of the name of John, 
who ruled in the heart of Asia or of Africa, a bright spot in the 
midst of Heathenry. The court of Prester John was located 
anywhere between Senegambia and China; but the legend had 
its origin probably in the continued existence of Greek Chris- 
tianity in Abyssinia, and towards Abyssinia several Portuguese 
explorers and missionaries directed their steps from the time 
of Pero or Pedro de Covilhao until the 17th century. Some 
Portuguese Jesuit missionaries penetrated far south of Abys- 
sinia into countries which have only been since revisited 
by Europeans within the last few years. Portuguese civili- 
zation distinctly left its mark on Abyssinia in architecture and 
in other ways. The very name which we apply to this modem 
Ethiopia is a Portuguese rendering of the Arab and Indian 
cant term for * negro' — Habesh — a word of uncertain origin. 

About this time, also, the Portuguese visited the coasts of 
Madagascar, as will be related in the chapter dealing with that 
island. They also discovered (in 1507) the islands now known 
by the names of Reunion and Mauritius, though they made no 
permanent settlements on either. 

On the West coast of Africa geographical discovery was 
soon followed by something like colonization. The island of 
Madeira, which had been known to the Portuguese in the 
14th century, was occupied by them in the 15 th, and a 



II.] The Portuguese in Africa, 33 

hundred years afterwards was already producing a supply of 
that wine which has made it so justly famous \ The island of 
St Helena — afterwards to be seized by the Dutch and taken 
from them by the English East India Company — was dis- 
covered by the Portuguese in 1502, and this island also, at 
the end of a century of intermittent use by the Portuguese, 
possessed orange groves and fig trees which they had planted. 

When Diego Cam returned from the Congo in 1485 he 
brought back with him a few Congo natives, who were bap- 
tized, and who returned some years later to the Congo with 
Diego Cam and a large number of proselytizing priests. This 
Portuguese expedition arrived at the mouth of the Congo in 
1 49 1 and there encountered a vassal chief of the king of the 
Congo who ruled the riverain province of Sonyo. This chief 
received them with a respect due to demi-gods, and allowed 
himself to be at once converted to Christianity — z, conversion 
which was sincere and durable. The Portuguese proceeded 
under his guidance to the king's capital about 200 miles from 
the coast, which they named Sao Salvador. Here the king and 
queen were baptized with the names of the then king and queen 
of Portugal, Joao and Leonora, while the crown Prince was 
called Affonso. Christianity made surprising progress amongst 
these fetish worshippers, who readily transferred their adoration 
to the Virgin Mary and the saints, and discarded their indi- 
genous male and female gods. Early in the i6th century the 
Congo kingdom was visited by the Bishop of Sao Thom^, an 
island off the Guinea coast, which, together with the adjoining 
Prince's Island, had been settled by the Portuguese soon after 
their discovery of the West coast of Africa. The Bishop of Sao 

^ The Canary Islands, inhabited by a race of Berber origin, had been 
rediscovered (for Greek and Roman geographers knew of them) by 
Normans and Genoese in the 14th century. They were conquered by a 
Norman adventurer, Jean de Betancourt or Bethencourt, in the service of 
Portugal. Portugal, however, after a brief occupancy transferred them to 
Castile in 1479* 

J. A. 3 



34 T^he Colonization of Africa, [Chap. 

Thom^ being unable to take up his residence in the kingdom 
of Congo procured the consecration of a native Negro as 
Bishop of the Congo. This man, who was a member of the 
Congo royal family, had been educated in Lisbon, and was, I 
believe, the first Negro bishop known to history. But he was 
not a great success, nor was the next bishop, in whose reign 
in the middle of the i6th century great dissensions arose in 
the Congo church among the native priesthood, which led to a 
considerable lessening of Christian fervour. After the death of 
Dom Diego a civil war broke out, and one by one the males 
of the royal house were all killed except "Dom Henrique," the 
king's brother. This latter also died soon after succeeding to 
the throne, and left the state to his son, "Dom Alvares." 
During this civil war many of the Portuguese whom the kings 
of Congo had invited to settle in the country as teachers, 
mechanics, and craftsmen were killed or expelled as the cause 
of the troubles which European intervention had brought on 
the Congo kingdom; but Dom Alvares, who was an en- 
lightened man, gathered together all that remained, and for 
a time Portuguese civilization continued to advance over the 
country. But a great stumbling-block had arisen in the way of 
Christianity being accepted by the bulk of the people — that 
stumbling-block which is still discussed at every Missionary 
conference — polygamy. A relation of the king Dom Alvares 
renounced Christianity and headed a reactionary party. Curi- 
ously enough he has been handed down to history as Bula 
Matadi^ " the Breaker of Stones," the name which more than 
three hundred years afterwards was applied to the explorer 
Stanley by the Congo peoples, and has since become the 
native name for the whole of the government of the Congo 
Free State. 

In the middle of the i6th century Portuguese influence 
over the Congo received a deadly blow. That kingdom, which 
must be taken to include the coast lands on either side of the 
lower Congo, was invaded by a savage tribe from the interior 



II.] The Portuguese in Africa, 35 

known as the " Jagga " people, said to be a race related to the 
Fans\ The Jagga were powerful men and ferocious cannibals, 
and they carried all before them, the king and his court taking 
refuge on an island on the broad Congo, not far from Boma. 
The king of Congo appealed to Portugal for help, and that 
ill-fated but brilliant young monarch, Dom Sebastiao, sent him 
Franciso de Gova with 600 soldiers. With the aid of these 
Portuguese and their guns the Jagga were driven out. The 
king, who had hitherto led a very irregular life for a Christian, 
now formally married, but was not rewarded by a legal heir, 
and had to indicate as his successor a natural son by a concu- 
bine. About this time the king of Portugal pressed his brother 
of Congo to reveal the existence of mines of precious metals. 
Whether there are such in the Congo country — except as 
regards copper — has not been made known even at the present 
day, but they were supposed to exist at that time; and certain 
Portuguese at the Congo court dissuaded the prince whom 
they served from giving any information on the subject, no 
doubt desiring to keep such knowledge to themselves. The 
king of Congo, Dom Alvares, when the Jagga had retired, 
made repeated appeals for more Portuguese priests, and sent 
several embassies to Portugal; but Dom Sebastiao had been 
killed in Morocco, and his uncle, the Cardinal Henrique, who 
had succeeded him and who was the last Portuguese king of 
the House of Avis, was too much occupied by the afifairs of 
his tottering kingdom to reply to these appeals. But when 
Philip II of Spain had seized the throne of Portugal he 
despatched a Portuguese named Duarte Lopes to report on the 
country of the Congo. After spending some time in Congo- 
land Duarte Lopes started to return to Portugal with a great 
amount of information about the country, and messages from 
the king of Congo. Unfortunately he was driven by storms to 

^ Possibly a more purely Bantu tribe. Their descendants seem still to 
be found living on the river Kwango behind Angola under the name of 
Yaka. 

3—2 



36 The Colonization of Africa, [Chap. 

Central America, and when he reached Spain the king was too 
busy preparing the Great Armada to listen to him. Therefore 
Duarte went on a pilgrimage to Rome to appeal to the Pope, 
but the latter for some reason gave him no encouragement. 
Whilst staying in Italy, however, he allowed an Italian named 
Filippo Pigafetta to take down and publish in 1 591 his account 
of the Congo kingdom, together with a recital of the Portu- 
guese explorations and conquests in East Africa. 

Although Portuguese priests — Jesuits probably — continued 
for a hundred years longer to visit the kingdom of Congo, from 
the end of the i6th century both Christian and Portuguese in- 
fluence slowly faded, and the country relapsed into heathenism. 
The Portuguese appear to have excited the animosity of a 
somewhat proud people by their overbearing demeanour and 
rapacity. They held intermittently Kabinda, on the coast to 
the north of the Congo estuary, and occasionally sent missions 
of investiture to Sao Salvador to represent the king of Portugal 
at the crowning of some new king of Congo; and the king of 
Congo was usually given a Portuguese name and occasionally 
an honorary rank in the Portuguese army. But it was not 
until the end of the present century that Portugal actually 
asserted her dominion over the Congo countries. England had 
during the last and nearly all the present century steadily 
refused to recognize Portuguese rule anywhere north of the 
Congo, but in 1884 proposed to do so under sufficient 
guarantees for freedom of trade set forth in a treaty which was 
rendered abortive by the opposition of the House of Commons. 
If this treaty had been ratified it would have brought under 
joint English and Portuguese influence the lower Congo, 
besides settling amicably Portuguese and British claims in 
Nyasaland. The foolish and unreasoning opposition of a 
knot of unpractical philanthropists in the House of Commons 
vrrecked the treaty, and gave to the other powers of Europe an 
opportunity for interfering in the affairs of the Congo. The 
result to Portugal, nevertheless, was that she secured the 



II.] Tlie Portuguese in Africa^ 37 

territory of Kabinda north of the Congo, and the ancient 
kingdom of Congo south of that river. 

Although the Portuguese discovered the coast of Angola in 
1490 they did not attempt to settle in that country until 1574, 
when, in answer to an appeal of the chief of Angola (a vassal 
of the king of Congo), an expedition was sent thither under the 
command of Paulo Diaz^ This expedition landed at the 
mouth of the Kwanza river, and found that the chief of Angola 
who had appealed to the king of Portugal was dead. His 
successor received Diaz with politeness, but compelled him to 
assist the Angolese in local wars which had not much interest 
for the Portuguese. Diaz found in the interior of Angola 
many evidences of Christian worship, which showed that 
missionaries from the Congo had preceded his own expedition. 
When Diaz was at last allowed to return to Portugal, the king 
— Dom Sebastiao — sent him back as "Conqueror, Colonizer, 
and Governor of Angola" with seven ships and 700 men. 
His passage out from Lisbon in the year 1574 occupied three 
and a half months — not a long time at that period for sailing- 
vessels. Diaz took possession of a sandy island in front of 
the bay which is now known as the harbour of Sao Paulo de 
Loanda. Here he was joined by 40 Portuguese refugee^ from 
the Congo kingdom. Eventually he built on the mainland of 
Loanda the fort of Sao Miguel, and founded the city of Sao 
Paulo, which became and remains the capital of the Portuguese 
possessions in West Africa. 

For six years perfect peace subsisted between the Portu- 
guese and the natives \ then, afraid that the Portuguese would 
eventually seize the whole country, the king of Angola enticed 
500 Portuguese soldiers into a war in the interior where he 
massacred them. But this massacre only served to show the 
splendid quality of Paulo Diaz, who was a magnificent repre- 
sentative of the old Portuguese tjrpe of Conquistador. Leaving 

^ Grandson of the explorer, Bartolomeu. 



4 



38 The Colonization of Africa. [Chap. 

Loanda with 150 soldiers — nearly all that remained — he 
marched against the king's forces near the Kwanza river, and 
routed them with great loss, being of course greatly helped in 
securing this victory by the possession of muskets and cannon. 
The Angolese were defeated repeatedly before they gave up 
the struggle; but at length in 1597 the Portuguese had estab- 
lished themselves strongly on both banks of the river Kwanza. 
In that year 200 Flemish colonists were sent out by the king 
of Spain and Portugal. In a very short time all were dead 
from fever. In spite of many reverses, however, the Portuguese 
slowly mastered the country south of the Kwanza nearly as far 
as Benguela. In 1606 an interesting but unsuccessful attempt 
was made to open up communication across south-central 
Africa between the Kwanza and the Zambezi settlements. 
But this bold step had been preceded nearly a century earlier 
by the despatch of an explorer — Gregorio de Quadra — to 
travel overland from the mouth of the Congo to Abyssinia. 
The unfortunate man was never heard of again; but what a 
subject for romance 1 If this hardy Portuguese penetrated far 
into the upper Congo countries what extraordinary experiences 
he must have had in these lands, at that time absolutely free 
from the influence of the European — a condition which no 
longer applied to the natives of Darkest Africa when Stanley 
first made known the geography of those regions. For in the 
three and a half centuries which had elapsed, even those 
savages in the heart of Africa, who possibly knew nothing of 
the existence of white men, had nevertheless adopted many of 
the white man's products as necessities or luxuries of their 
lives — such as maize, tobacco, yams, sweet potatoes, manioc, 
the pine-apple, and the sugar cane. 

We may here fitly consider the greatest and most beneficial 
results of the Portuguese colonization of Africa. These 
wonderful old Conquistadores may have been relentless and 
cruel in imposing their rule on the African and in enslaving 
him or in Christianizing him, but they added enormously to 



i 



II.] TAe Portuguese in Africa, 39 



«» 

> 



his food-supply and his comfort. So early in the history of 

their African exploration that it is almost the first step they 

took, they brought from China, India, and Malacca the orange 

tree, the lemon and the lime, which, besides introducing into 

|. Europe (and Europe had hitherto only known the sour wild 

orange brought by the Arabs), they planted in every part of 

' East and West Africa where they touched. They likewise 

' brought the sugar cane from the East Indies and introduced it 

into various parts of Brazil and West Africa, especially into the 

islands of Sao Thom^ and Principe and the Congo and Angola 

countries. Madeira they had planted with vines in the 15 th 

century ; the A9ores, the Cape Verde Islands and St Helena 

with orange trees in the i6th century. From .their great 

possession of Brazil — overrun and organized with astounding 

rapidity — they brought to East and West Africa the Muscovy 

/ duck (which has penetrated far into the interior of Africa, if 

indeed it has not crossed the continent), chili peppers, maize 

^ (now grown all over Africa, cultivated by many natives who 

have not even yet heard of the existence of white men), tobacco, 

*" the tomato, yam, pine-apple, sweet potato (a convolvulus tuber), 

^ manioc (from which tapioca is made), ginger and other less 

^ widely known forms of vegetable food. The Portuguese also 

introduced the domestic pig into Africa, and on the West coast, 

the domestic cat, possibly also certain breeds of dogs; in East 

tropical Africa the horse is known in the north by an Arab 

name, in the centre by the Portuguese word, and in the 

extreme south by a corruption of the English. To the Arabs 

also must be given the credit (so far as we know) of having 

introduced into Africa from Asia the sugar cane, rice^ onions, 

cucumbers, here and there the lime and orange, wheat and 

perhaps other grains'; among domestic animals, the camel, in 

^ Rice and sugar cane were in some cases brought by the Portuguese. 

* Such wheat as is cultivated in Africa north of 15° N. Latitude is 
similar to the European and Eg3rptian kinds : the wheat introduced by the 
Arabs into the Zambezi is red wheat apparently from India. 



40 The Colonization of Africa, [Chap. 

some parts the horse, and in a few places superior breeds of 
domestic fowls and also the domestic pigeon \ The English- 
man has brought with him the potato, and has introduced 
into most of his colonies the horse, and in places improved 
breeds of cattle, sheep, and goats, a good many European 
vegetables and fruit trees; the tea plant, the coffee plant 
(which, however, has only been transferred from other parts of 
Africa), and many shrubs and trees of special economic value ; 
but what are these introductions— almost entirely for his own 
use — compared in value to the vast bounty of Portugal ? Take 
away from the African's dietary of to-day a few of the products 
that the Portuguese brought to him from the far East and far 
West, and he will remain very insufficiently provided with neces- 
sities and simple luxuries. I may add one or two dates con- 
cerning these introductions by the Portuguese: — the sugar 
cane and ginger were first planted in the island of Principe, off 
the coast of Lower Guinea in the early part of the i6th century. 
Maize was introduced into the Congo (where it was called 
maza manputo) about the middle of the i6th century*. 

^ Which however is a wild bird (the rock dove) in N. Africa. 

^ De Lopes, who records this fact in his description of the Congo 
region at the end of the i6th century, gives incidentally or directly other 
interesting scraps of information, such as, that the coco-nut palm was 
found by the Portuguese growing on the West coast of Africa. This palm, 
we know, originated in the Asiatic or Pacific Archipelagoes. It is possible 
to imagine that its nuts may have been carried over the sea to the coast of 
East Africa and that it was thus introduced to that side of the continent ; 
but, inasmuch as the coco-nut palm cannot grow further south than 
Delagoa Bay owing to the cooling of the climate, it is not very clear how 
it reached the tropical West African coast. I believe it was introduced 
on the tropical Atlantic coast of America by Europeans. De Lopes 
mentions the banana for the first time under the name *' banana," which 
he applies to it as though it were a Congo or African word. Hitherto 
this fruit had only been known vaguely to Europe by its Arab name, 
which was latinized into Musa, Lopes states that the zebra was 
tamed and ridden by the natives. He must be referring to the zebra of 
southern Angola, as any form of wild ass has probably always been 
entirely absent from the forest countries near the Congo. 



II.] The Portuguese in Africa, 41 

In 1 62 1 a chieftainess, apparently of the Congo royal family, 
known as Ginga Bandi, came to Angola, made friends with the 
Portuguese, was baptized, and then returned to the interior, 
where she poisoned her brother (the chief or king of Angola), 
and succeeded him. Having attained this object of her am- 
bitions, she headed the national party, and attempted to drive 
the Portuguese out of Angola. For 30 years she warred against 
them without seriously shaking their power, though on the 
other hand they could do little more than hold their own. But 
a much more serious enemy now appeared on the scene. The 
Dutch, who took advantage of the Spanish usurpation ^ of the 
throne of Portugal to include that unfortunate country in their 
reprisals against Spain, made several determined attempts 
during the first half of the 17 th century to wrest Angola from 
the Portuguese. They captured Sao Paulo de Loanda in 1641, 
one year after Portugal had recovered her independence under 
the first Bragan9a king. The Portuguese concentrated on the 
Kwanza. The Dutch attempted by several very treacherous 
actions to oust them from their fortresses on that river. At 
last, however, following on the reorganization of the Portuguese 
empire, reinforcements were sent from Brazil to Angola, and a 
siege of Sao Miguel took place. The Portuguese imitated 
with advantage the Dutch game of bluff, and by deceiving the 
besieged as to the extent of their army they secured the sur- 
render of 1 1 00 Dutch to under 750 Portuguese. In the pre- 
liminary assault on the Dutch at Sao Paulo de Loanda the 
Portuguese lost 163 men. After the recapture of this place 
they proceeded methodically to destroy all the Dutch establish- - 
ments on the Lower Guinea coast as far north as Loango. In 
the concluding years of the t7th century nearly all the 
remaining Portuguese missionaries in the kingdom of Congo 

^ Perhaps ** usurpation'' is harsh. Philip II of Spain had the best 
claim to the Portuguese throne after the death without heirs of the 
Cardinal-King Henrique. But the Portuguese disliked union with Spain 
and would have preferred to elect a Portuguese king. 



42 The Colonization of Africa, [Chap. 

migrated to the more settled and prosperous Angola. In 1694 
Portugal introduced a copper coinage into her now flourishing 
West African colony — flourishing, thanks to the slave trade, 
which was mightily influencing the European settlement of 
West Africa. 

In 1758 the Portuguese extended their rule northwards from 
Sao Paulo de Loanda into the Ambriz country, where however 
their authority continued very uncertain till within a few years 
ago. About the same time Benguela was definitely occupied, 
and Portuguese influence continued extending slowly southward 
until, in 1840, it reached its present limits by the establishment 
of a settlement (now very prosperous) called Mossamedes, 
almost exactly on the fifteenth parallel of south latitude \ 

Between 1807 and 18 10 attempts were made to open up 
intercourse with the kingdom of the Mwato Yanvo, and thence 
across to the colony of Mozambique, but they proved un- 
successful. In 1 813 and in the succeeding years a renewed 
vigour of colonization began to make itself felt in the creation 
of public works in Angola. Amongst other improvements was 
the bringing of the waters of the Kwanza by canal to Sao Paulo 
de Loanda, which until then had no supply of good drinking 
water. The Dutch had attempted to carry out this, but were 
interrupted. The Portuguese eflbrts in the early part of this 
century proved unsuccessful, but some ten years ago the canal 
was at last completed, and it has made a great difference to 
the health of the town. Portuguese rule inland from Angola 
has waxed and waned during the present century, but on the 
whole has been greatly extended. Livingstone even found 
them established to some extent on the upper Kwango, an 
affluent of the Congo, and for long the eastern boundary of 
Angola. From this, however, they had to retire owing to 
native insurrections; though now their power and their in- 
fluence have been pushed far to the east, to the river Kasai. 

^ This place was named after the Baron de Mossamedes, a Portuguese 
Governor of Angola ; afterwards Minister for the Colonies. 



II.] The Portuguese in Africa. 43 

In 1875 ^ party of recalcitrant Boers quitted the Transvaal 
owing to some quarrel with the local government, trekked 
over the desert in a north-westerly direction, and eventually 
blundered across the Kunene river (the southern limit of 
Portuguese West Africa) on to the healthy plateau behind the 
Chella Mountains. It was feared at one time that they would 
set the Portuguese at defiance and carve out a little Boer state 
in south-west Africa. About this time, also, Hottentots much 
under Boer influence and speaking Dutch invaded the district 
of Mossamedes from the coast region; but by liberal con- 
cessions and astute diplomacy, joined with the carrying out of 
several important works, like the waggon road across the Shela 
(or Chella) Mountains, the Portuguese won over the Boers to 
a recognition of their sovereignty, and they have ever since 
become a source of strength to the Portuguese. Slavery was 
not abolished in the Portuguese West African dominions until 
1878; but the slave trade had been done away with in the 
first quarter of the 19th century. Prior to that time the 
slave trade had brought extraordinary prosperity to the islands 
of Sao Thomd and Principe, to the Portuguese fort on the 
coast of Dahome, and to Angola, all of which countries were 
more or less under one government. The abolition of the 
slave trade however caused the absolute ruin of Principe 
(which has not yet recovered), the temporary ruin of Sao 
Thom^ (since revived by the energy of certain planters, who 
have introduced the cultivation of chinchona), and the partial 
ruin of Angola, which began to be regarded as a possession 
scarcely worth maintaining. Brazil (though it had been severed 
from the crown of Portugal) did almost more than the Mother 
Country to revive trade in these dominions. Enterprising 
Brazilians such as Silva Americano came over to Angola in 
the *6o's' and *7o's,' started steam navigation on the river 
Kwanza, and developed many industries. Through Brazilian, 
United States, and British influence a railway was commenced 
in the '8o's' to connect Sao Paulo de Loanda with the rich 



44 The Colonization of Africa, [Chap. 

interior, especially with the coffee districts on the water-shed 
of the Congo. The magnificent island of Sao Thomd, just 
under the Equator, possesses mountains which rise high into a 
temperate climate. On these, flourishing plantations of cin- 
chona and coffee have been established. Public works in the 
shape of good roads and bridges have been carried out in many 
I parts of Angola, and this country is certainly the most success- 
ful of the Portuguese attempts at the colonization of Africa. 

Portuguese rule has been extended northwards to the 
southern shore of the Congo, and over the small territory of 
Kabinda, which is separated by a narrow strip of Belgian 
territory from the other bank. On the other hand the Portu- 
guese protectorate over Dahome — a protectorate which never 
had any real existence — has been abandoned together with its 
only foothold, Sao Joao d'Ajuda*. The Portuguese forts on 
the Gold Coast had not been held very long before they were 
captured by the Dutch at the beginning of the 17th century. 
Portugal, in spite of discovering and naming Sierra Leone, 
never occupied it; but in varying degree she continued to 
maintain certain fortified posts amid that extraordinary jumble 
of rivers in Senegambia, between the Gambia and Sierra Leone. 
This is a district of some 20,000 square miles in extent, to-day 
carefully defined, and known as Portuguese Guinea. But in 
the * 70's ' it was doubtful whether Portuguese sovereignty over 
this country had not been abandoned. England, which exercised 
exclusive influence in these waters, attempted to establish 
herself in the place of Portugal, but the Portuguese protested 

1 This fort, by the abortive Congo Treaty of 1884, was to have been 
made over to England, the result of which would have been the prevention 
of a French protectorate over Dahome. Although the Portuguese never in 
any sense ruled over or controlled Dahome, their indirect influence and 
their language were prominent at the Dahomean court because certain 
Brazilians had during the first half of this century established themselves 
on the coast and in the interior as influential merchants and slave traders. 
Their coffee -coloured descendants now form a Portuguese-speaking 
Brazilian caste in Dahome. 



II.] The Portuguese in Africa, 45 

and proclaimed their sovereignty. The matter was submitted 
to arbitration, and the verdict — of course — was given against 
England. Consequently the Portuguese reorganized their 
colony of Guinea, which in time was separated from the 
governorship of the Cape Verde islands. These latter are a 
very important Portuguese asset off the north-west coast of 
Africa. They have been continuously occupied and adminis- 
tered since their discovery in the 15 th century. They possessed 
then no population, but are now peopled by a blackish race 
descended from Negro and Moorish slaves. In one or two of 
the healthier islands are settlers of Portuguese blood. Owing 
to the magnificent harbours which these islands offer to shipping 
— especially Sao Vicente — and their use as a coaling station, 
they may yet figure prominently in the world's history. 

Both Ascension and St Helena were discovered and named 
by the Portuguese. The first-named was never occupied until 
England took possession of it as an outpost of Napoleon's 
prison in 1 815. St Helena was taken in the early part of the 
1 6th century by the Dutch, and passed into the hands of 
the English in the middle of that century. Another Portuguese 
discovery was the most southern of these isolated oceanic islets, 
Tristan d!Acunha, which bears the name of its discoverer, but 
which, so far as occupation goes, has always been a British 
possession ^ 

On the East coast of Africa Portuguese colonization did 
not commence until the i6th century had begun, and 
Vasco de Gama, after rounding the Cape, had revealed the 

^ Most prominent features, and some countries on the west and south 
coasts of Africa from the Senegal round to the Cape of Good Hope and 
Mo9ambique, bear Portuguese names: Cape Verde is "The Green Cape," 
Sierra Leone (Serra Leoc^ is **The Lioness Mountain," Cape Palmas " The 
Palm-trees Cape," Cape Coast is Cabo Corso "The cruising Cape," 
Lc^s is *'The Lakes," Cameroons is CamarcHs "prawns," Gaboon is 
Gabdo "The Hooded Cloak" (from the shape of the estuary), Corisco is 
"Lightning," Cape Frio is "The Cold Cape" and Angra Pequena is 
•* The Little Cove,** and so on. 



46 The Colonization of Africa, [Chap. 

existence of old Arab trading settlements and sultanates be- 
tween Sofala and Somaliland. 

The need of ports of call on the long voyage to India 
caused the Portuguese to decide soon after Vasco de Gama's 
famous voyage to possess themselves of these Arab settlements, 
the more so because hostilities against the '^ Moors'' were a 
never-ending vendetta on the part of Spaniard or Portuguese, 
while the conquest was at that date an easy one, as the 
Portuguese had artillery and the East African Arabs had none. 

By 1520^ the Portuguese had ousted the Arabs and had 
occupied in their stead Kilwa, Zanzibar, Pemba, Mombasa, 
Lamu, Malindi, Brava (Barawa), and Magdishu (Magadoxo): 
all north of the Ruvuma river. South of that river they had 
taken Sofala and Mogambique. Here they had — ^it is said — 
established a trading station in 1503, but Mozambique island* 
was not finally occupied by them till 1507, when the existing 
fortress was commenced and built by Duarte de Mello. The 
fort was then and is still known as "the Praga de Sao 
Sebastiao.'' It had been decided before this that Mozambique 
should be the principal place of call, after leaving the Cape of 
Good Hope, for Portuguese ships on their way to India ; but 
when in 1505 the Portuguese deliberately sanctioned the idea 
of a Portuguese East African colony they turned their attention 
rather to Sofala as its centre than to Mozambique. Sofala, 
which is near the modern Beira, was an old Arab port and 
sultanate, and had been for some 1500 years the principal port 
on the south-east coast of Africa, from which the gold obtained 



^ This is a little coral islet about 9 miles long by J of a mile broad, 
situated between a and 3 miles from the coast [a shallow bay], in 15 degrees 
south latitude, where the East African coast approaches nearest to Mada- 
gascar. It commands the Mo9ambique Channel. Its native name was 
probably originally Musambiki. By the neighbouring East African tribes 
it is now called Muhibidi, Msambiji, and Msambiki. It has sometimes 
been the only parcel of land remaining in Portuguese hands during the 
vicissitudes of their East African empire. 



II.] The Portuguese in Africa. 47 

in the mines of Manika was shipped to the Red Sea and the 
Persian Gulf. Consequently the first proposed Portuguese 
settlement on the East coast of Africa was entitled "the 
Captaincy of Sofala." But later on Mozambique grew in 
importance, and eventually gave its name to the Portuguese 
possessions in East Africa. 

The Quelimane river, taken to be the principal exit of 
the Zambezi by the Portuguese, was discovered and entered 
by Vasco de Gama in the early part of 1498, and was by him 
called the " River of Good Indications." He stayed a month 
on this river, where there seems to have been, on the site of the 
present town of Quelimane, a trading station resorted to by the 
Arabs, who were even then settled in Zambezia. The name 
Quelimane (pronounced in English Kelimane) is stated by the 
early Portuguese to have been the name of the friendly chief 
who acted as intermediary between them and the natives, but 
it would rather appear to have been a corruption of the 
Swahili- Arabic word ** Kaliman," which means " interpreter." 

The first " Factory " or Portuguese trading station at Queli- 
mane was established about the year 1544, and by this time 
the Portuguese had heard of the River of Sena (as they called 
the Zambezi) and of the large Arab settlement of Sena on its 
banks. They had further heard both from Quelimane and 
from Sofala of the powerful empire of Monomotapa', and 
especially of the province of Manika, which was reported to 
be full of gold. Having found it too difficult to reach Manika 
from Sofala, owing to the opposition of the natives, they resolved 
to enter the country from the north by way of Sena, on the 
Zambezi; and consequently, in 1569, an exceptionally powerful 
expedition left Lisbon under the command of the Governor 

^ A corraption of Mwene'tnutapa "Lord Hippopotamus," according 
to some authorities, for on the Zambezi above Tete the hippopotamus was 
looked on as a sacred animal. I am inclined to think however that 
Mwene-mutapa is really " Lord of the Mine, or gold mining," mutapo or 
mtapo being a shallow pit dug in clay or sand for mining, or washing gold. 



48 The Colonization of Africa, [Chap. 

and Captain-General Francisco Barreto, and after a preliminary 
tour up and down the East coast of Africa as far as Larnu, and 
a rapid journey to India and back, Francisco Barreto with his 
force, which included cavalry and camels, landed at Quelimane, 
and set out for Sena. The expedition was accompanied, and, 
to a certain extent, guided by a mischief-making Jesuit priest 
named Monciaros, who wished to avenge the assassination of 
his fellow-priest, Gon9alo de Silveira, martyred not long pre- 
viously in the Monomotapa territories. Francisco Barreto 
found on arriving at Sena that there was already a small 
Portuguese settlement built alongside an Arab town. These 
Arabs appear to have got on very well with the first Portuguese 
traders, but they evidently took umbrage at Barreto's powerful 
expedition, and are accused of having poisoned the horses and 
camels. What really took place, however, seems to have been 
that the horses and camels were exposed to the bite of the 
Tsetse fly, and died in consequence of the attacks of this 
venomous insect. From Sena, Barreto sent an embassy to the 
Emperor of Monomotapa, whom he offered to help against a 
revolted vassal, Mongase. After receiving an invitation to 
visit the emperor, a portion of the Portuguese force commenced 
to ascend the right bank of the river Zambezi, but apparently 
never reached its destination, because it was so repeatedly 
attacked by the hostile natives that it was compelled to return 
to Sena. Shortly afterwards there arrived the news of a revolt 
at Mozambique, and consequently Barreto, together with the 
priest Monciaros, having handed over the command of the 
expedition to a lieutenant, entered a canoe, descended the 
Zambezi to the Luabo mouth, and from there took passage in 
a dau to Mozambique. He and Monciaros subsequently re- 
turned to Sena, but Barreto died soon after his arrival. The 
Portuguese chroniclers of this expedition write with consider- 
able bitterness of the Jesuit Monciaros, to whose counsels most 
of the misfortunes and mistakes are attributed. The expedition 
after Barreto's death returned to Mozambique, and attempted 



II.] The Portuguese in Africa. 49 

later on to enter Monomotapa by way of Sofala, but was 
repulsed. 

For some time to come further exploration of the Zambezi 
or of the interior of Mogambique was put a stop to by the 
struggle which ensued with the Turks. Towards the end of 
the 1 6th century (in 1584), following on the conquest of 
Egypt and at the instigation of Venice, the Turkish Sultan 
sent a powerful fleet out of the Red Sea, which descended the 
East coast of Africa as far as Mombasa, and prepared to dis- 
pute with Portugal the dominion of the Indian Ocean. The 
Turks, however, were defeated with considerable loss by the 
Admiral Thome de Sousa Coutinho, and Portuguese domination 
was not only strengthened at 2^nzibar and along the Zanzibar 
coast, but was also affirmed along the south coast of Arabia 
and in the Persian Gulf. 

At the end of the i6th century the Portuguese had 
terrific struggles with the natives in the interior of Monomotapa, 
behind Kilwa, on the mainland of Mozambique ^ and in the 
vicinity of Tete on the Zambezi; and shortly afterwards 
appeared the first Dutch pirates in East African waters, some 
of whom actually laid siege to Mozambique. In 1609 there 
arrived at Mozambique the first Portuguese Governor of the 
East coast of Africa, and this province was definitely separated 
from the Portuguese possessions in India, while at the same 
time it was withdrawn from the spiritual jurisdiction of the 
Archbishop of Goa, and placed under the Prelate of Mozam- 
bique. Meantime the efforts to reach the gold-mines to the 
south of the Zambezi had been so far successful that a con- 
siderable quantity of gold was obtained not only by the officers, 
but even by the private soldiers of the different expeditions ; 
but the expectations of the Portuguese as to the wealth of gold 
and silver (for they were in search of reported silver-mines on 

^ Where they are only now bringing the sturdy Makua tribe under 
subjection. 

J. A. 4 



50 The Colonization of Africa, [Chap. 

the Zambezi) were considerably disappointed, and later on, < 
in the 17th century, their interest in these East African 
possessions waned, largely on account of the poor results 
of their mining operations. In the middle of the 17th 
century, however, a new source of wealth was discovered, 
which for two hundred years following gave a flickering prospe- 
rity to these costly establishments on the East coast of Africa 
— I mean the slave trade. In 1645 the first slaves were 
exported from Mogambique to Brazil. This action was brought 
about by the fact that the province of Angola had fallen for a 
time into the hands of the Dutch, and, therefore, the supply of 
slaves to Brazil was temporarily stopped. 

In consequence of this Mozambique and the Zambezi for 
some years replaced West Africa as a slave market. In 16^49 
the English first made their appearance on this coast, and two 
years afterwards the Portuguese were perturbed by the definite 
establishment of a Dutch colony at the Cape, and by the 
establishment of French factories on the coast of Madagascar 
— events which are prophetically described by a contemporary 
writer as " Quantos passos para a ruina de Mozambique ! " — 
"So many steps towards the ruin of Mozambique!" At the 
same time the Arabs in the Persian Gulf drove the Portuguese 
out of Maskat, and towards the end of the 17th century 
began to attack their possessions on the Zanzibar coast. By 
1698 Portugal had lost every fortress north of Mozambique, 
and in that year this, their last stronghold, was besieged straitly 
by the Arabs and very nearly captured. In fact it was only 
saved by the friendly treachery of an Indian trader who warned 
the Portuguese of an intended night attack. All of these posts 
on the Zanzibar coast were finally abandoned * by the Portu- 
guese in the early part of the i8th century by agreement with 
the Imam of Maskat, who founded the present dynasty of 
Zanzibar. In 1752 this fact was recognized by the formal 

^ Except Mombasa, which was retaken and held till 1730. 



II.] The Portuguese in Africa, 51 

delimitation of the Portuguese possessions in East Africa at the 
time when they were also* removed from any dependenqr on 
the Governor of Goa. In this decree of the 19th of April, 
1752, the government of Mozambique was described as extend- 
ing over '' Mozambique, Sofala, Rio de Sena (Zambezi), and 
all the coast of Africa and its continent between Cape Delgado 
and the Bay of I^ourenzo Marquez (Delagoa Bay)." Hitherto 
commerce in Portuguese East Africa had been singularly 
restricted, and after being first confined to the Governors and 
officials of the state, was then delegated to certain companies 
to whom monopolies were sold; but in 1687 there was a fresh 
arrival, after a considerable interval, of Indian traders, who 
established themselves on the Island of Mozambique, and by 
degrees the whole of the commerce of Portuguese East Africa 
was thrown open freely to all Portuguese subjects, though it 
was absolutely forbidden to the subjects of any other European 
power, and considerable anger was displayed when French and 
Dutch endeavoured to trade on the islands or on the coast in 
the province of Mozambique. In the middle of the i8th 
century the principle of sending the worst stamp of Portuguese 
convicts to Mozambique was unhappily adopted in spite of the 
many protests of its governors. About this same time also 
there occurred a series of disasters attributable to the deplor- 
able mismanagement of the Portuguese officials. The fortresses 
of the gold-mining country of Manika had to be abandoned, 
like Zumbo ^ on the upper Zambezi. The forts of the mainland 
opposite Mozambique were captured by an army of Makua, 
and the Island of Mozambique itself very nearly fell into the 
hands of the negroes of the mainland. 

Towards the close of the last century, however, occurred a 

^ great revival. In fact, the period which then ensued was the 

only bright, and to some extent glorious phase of Portuguese 

^ Zumbo was given up (though it was never much more than a Jesuit 
Mission Station) in 1740. 

4—2 



52 The Colonization of Africa. [Chap. 

dominion in South-east Africa. A remarkable man, Dr Francisco 
Jose Maria de Lacerda e Almeida, was first made Governor of 
Zambezia at his own request, and commenced the first scientific 
exploration of southern Central Africa. His journey resulted in 
the discovery of the Kazembe*s division of the Lunda empire, a 
country on the Luapula and Lake Mweru. It is interesting to 
note that in 1796, only one year after the British had seized 
Cape Town, Dr Lacerda predicted this action would lead to 
the creation of a great British Empire in Africa, which would 
stretch up northwards like a wedge between the Portuguese 
colonies of Angola and Mo9ambique. But Dr Lacerda in time 
fell a victim to the fatigues of his explorations, and Portuguese 
interest in East Africa waned before the life-and-death struggle 
which was taking place with France in Portugal itself. Long 
prior to this also, in the middle of the i8th century, the 
Jesuits had been expelled from all Portuguese East Africa, and 
with them had fallen what little civilization had been created 
on the upper Zambezi. In fact, it may be said that after 
Lacerda's journey the province of Mozambique fell ii^to a state 
of inertia and decay, until Livingstone, by his marvellous 
journeys, not only discovered the true course of the Zambezi 
river, but drew the attention and interest of the whole world 
to the development of tropical Africa. 

On all old Portuguese maps, indeed on all Portuguese 
maps issued prior to Livingstone's journeys, there was but 
scanty recognition of the Zambezi as a great river. It was 
usually referred to as the "rivers of Sena," the general im- 
pression being that it consisted of a series of parallel streams. 
No doubt this idea arose from its large delta ; on one or two 
maps, however, the course of the Zambezi is laid down pretty 
correctly from its confluence with the Kafue to the sea; but 
the fact cannot be denied that its importance as a waterway 
was quite unknown to the Portuguese, who usually reached 
it overland from Quelimane and travelled by land along its 
banks in preference to navigating its uncertain waters. The 



II.] The Portuguese in Africa. S3 

Shire was literally unknown, except at its junction with the 
Zambezi. The name of this river was usually spelt Cherim, 
but its etymology lies in the Matiianja word chiri^ which means 
"a steep bank." Captain Owen, who conducted a most 
remarkable series of surveying cruises along the West and East 
coasts of Africa in the early part of the 19th century, was 
the first to make the fact clearly known that a ship of light 
draught might enter the mouth of the Zambezi from the sea 
and travel up as far as Sena. 

Livingstone's great journey across the African continent in 
the earlier *5o's' attracted the attention of the British nation 
and Government to the possibilities of this region, so highly 
favoured by njiture in its rich soil and valuable productions. 
Livingstone was appointed Consul at Quelimane, and placed 
at the head of a well-equipped expedition intended to explore 
the 2^mbezi river and its tributaries. Prior to this the Portu- 
guese had abolished the slave trade by law, though slavery did 
not cease as a legal status till 1878, and had thrown open 
Portuguese East Africa to the commerce of all nations, and 
undoubtedly these two actions were an encouragement to the 
British Government to participate in the development of South- 
east Africa, especially as Livingstone's journeys had shown 
conclusively that the rule of the Portuguese did not extend 
very far inland, nor to any great distance from the banks of 
the lower Zambezi. The second Livingstone expedition may, 
therefore, be regarded as the first indirect step towards the 
foundation of the present Protectorate of British Central Africa, 
which dependency follows to a great extent in its frontiers the 
delimitations suggested by Dr Livingstone at the close of his 
second expedition. 

A jealous feeling, however, arose at the time of Living- 
stone's explorations between Portuguese and British, and con- 
siderable pressure was brought to bear on the British Govern- 
ment to abandon the results of Livingstone's discovery; and 
these representations, together with other discouraging results 



54 The Colonization of Africa, [Chap. 

of British enterprise in East and West Africa, induced the 
British Government during the later '6o's' and earlier 
* 70's ' to hold aloof from any idea of British rule in the 
interior of the continent. Meantime the Portuguese were 
making praiseworthy efforts to develop these long-neglected 
possessions. Great improvements were made, and a wholly 
modem aspect of neatness and order was given to the towns of 
Quelimane and Mozambique, which in many respects compare 
favourably with other European settlements on the East coast 
of Africa. Large sums were spent on public works \ indeed, 
in the year 1880, the sum of not less than ;^i57,ooo was 
provided by the mother country for the erection of public 
buildings in Portuguese East and West Africa, and at this 
period the handsome hospital in the town of Mozambique was 
erected, together with a good deal of substantial road and 
bridge making. A good many more military posts were 
founded, and Zumbo, on the central Zambezi, at the con- 
fluence with the Luangwa, was reoccupied. Nevertheless, 
Livingstone's work, and especially his death, inevitably drew 
the British to Zambezia. In 1875 ^^ ^^st pioneers of the 
present missionary societies travelled up the Zambezi and 
arrived in the Shire highlands. In 1876 the settlement of 
Blantyre was commenced, and the foundations of British 
Central Africa were laid. These actions impelled the Portu- 
guese to greater and greater efforts to secure the dominion to 
which they aspired — a continuous belt of empire stretching 
across the continent from Angola to Mozambique; and an 
expenditure exhausting for the mother country was laid out on 
costly expeditions productive not always of definite or satis- 
factory results. This policy culminated in the effort of Serpa 
Pinto to seize by force the Shire highlands, despite the 
resistance offered by the Makololo chiefs, who had declared 
themselves under British protection. Thence arose the inter- 
vention of the British Government and a long discussion 
between the two powers, which eventually bore results in a fair 



II.] The Portuguese in Africa. 55 

delimitation of the Portuguese and British spheres of influence, 
and the annulling — ^it is to be hoped for all time — of any 
inimical feeling between England and Portugal in their African 
enterprises. Mozambique has proved a costly dependency to 
the mother country. From the year 1508 to 1893 there was 
always annually an excess of expenditure over revenue, some- 
times as much as an annual deficit of ;^5o,ooo. In the year 
1893, for the first time since the creation of the colony, a small 
surplus was remitted to Lisbon. It is questionable whether 
this possession will ever prove profitable to Portugal. At the 
present day nearly two-thirds of the trade is in the hands of 
British subjects — Indians and Europeans. The remainder is 
divided amongst French, German, Portuguese, and Dutch 
commercial houses, and a small amount of commerce is 
carried on by natives of Goa or other Portuguese Indian 
possessions. 

The chief article of trade in the Mozambique province is 
ground-nuts — the oily seeds of the Arachis hypogcea^ a species 
of leguminous plant, the seed-pods of which grow downwards 
into the soil. These ground-nuts produce an excellent and 
palatable oil which is hardly distinguishable in taste from olive 
oil, and which indeed furnishes a considerable part of the so- 
called olive oil exported from France. This, perhaps, is the 
reason why the ground-nuts find their way finally to Marseilles. 
The india-rubber of Mozambique is of exceptionally good 
quality and fetches a good price in the market. Other exports 
are oil-seeds derived from a species of sesamum, copra, wax, 
ivory, and copper. A few enterprising people started coffee 
plantations on the mainland near Mozambique some years ago; 
but the local Portuguese authorities immediately put on heavy 
duties and taxes, so that the coffee-planting industry was soon 
killed. The same thing may be said about the coco-nut palm. 
At one time it was intended to plant this useful tree in large 
numbers along a coast singularly adapted for its growth ; but 
owing to the fact that the local Portuguese Government 



$6 The Colonization of Africa, [Chap. 

imposed a yearly tax on each palm the cultivation of the 
coco-nut was given up. The ivory comes chiefly from Ibo 
and Cape Delgado, and also from Quelimane, and is derived 
from elephants still existing in the Zambezi basin and in the 
eastern parts of Nyasaland. Nevertheless, most of the 
products above alluded to, with the exception of ivory, are 
only furnished by the fertile coast belt, for beyond the twenty 
mile strip of cultivated land which extends more or less down 
the whole coast of Mogambique, the interior of the country is 
dry and arid except in certain favoured river valleys. 

Unfortunately all the trade in the Mozambique province is 
terribly hampered by the very high import duties, which in 
many cases are as much as 37 per cent, ad valorem \ there are 
also export duties on some of the products of the country. 
Were it not for this fiscal policy, undoubtedly this part of 
Africa would be frequented by innumerable Indian traders 
and by a very much larger number of Europeans than is at 
present the case. 

Portuguese influence, though not Portuguese rule, was 
carried southward to the northern shore of Delagoa Bay at the 
end of the 17th century. Here the settlement of Lourengo 
Marquez was founded as a trading station. At the beginning 
of the 1 8th century this Portuguese station was abandoned, and 
the Cape Dutch came and built a factory there, which however 
was destroyed by the English in 1727. Nevertheless Portugal 
continued to assert her claims to Lourengo Marquez; and 
when in 1776 an Englishman named Bolts (formerly in the 
employ of the English East India Company), who had entered 
the service of Maria Theresa in order to found an Austrian 
Company to trade with the East Indies from Flanders, came 
thither with a large band composed of Austrian-Italian subjects, 
and made treaties with the chiefs at Delagoa Bay, the Portu- 
guese protested and addressed representations to the Austrian 
Government. These protestations would have been of but 
little avail had not a terrible outbreak of fever carried oflF 



II.] The Portugtuse in Africa. 57 

almost all the European settlers. The Austrian claim was 
therefore abandoned, and the Portuguese continued at intervals 
to make their presence felt there by a quasi-military com- 
mandant or a Government trading establishment. When 
Captain Owen's expedition visited Delagoa Bay between 1822 
and 1824 they found a small Portuguese establishment on the 
site of the present town of Louren90 Marquez^ Realizing 
the importance of this harbour, and finding no evidence of 
Portuguese claims to its southern shore. Captain Owen con- 
cluded treaties with the King of Tembe by which the southern 
part of Delagoa Bay was ceded to Great Britain. The Portu- 
guese made an indirect protest by removing the British flag 
during Captain Owen's absence, but the flag was rehoisted in 
1824. Owen's action, however, was not followed up by effec- 
tive occupation, though on the other hand the Portuguese did 
nothing to reassert their authority over the south shore of the 
bay until in the *6o's' when the growing importance of 
South Africa led the English to reassert their claims. The 
matter was submitted to arbitration, and Marshal MacMahon, 
the President of the French Republic, was chosen as arbitrator. 
His verdict — a notoriously biassed one — not only gave the 
Portuguese the south shore of Delagoa Bay, but even more 
territory than they actually laid claim to. England had to 
some extent prepared herself for an unfavourable verdict by a 
prior agreement providing that whichever of the two disputing 
powers came to possess the whole or part of Delagoa Bay 
should give the other the right of pre-emption. 

Reading the vast mass of evidence brought forward and 
preserved in Blue Books, it seems to the present writer that 
any dispassionate judge would arrive at these conclusions : 
That the Portuguese claims to the northern shore of Delagoa 
Bay were valid, but that over the southern shore of that 

^ The modem and existing town of that name was not founded till 
1867. 



58 The Colonization of Africa, [Chap. 

important inlet they had exercised no occupation and raised 
no claim until the arrival of Captain Owen and his treaty- 
making, and that even after the action taken by Captain Owen 
their only procedure was to remove the flag he had raised, 
but not to follow up any such step by occupation or treaty- 
making on their own account. Captain Owen's action was 
not repudiated by the British Government, who besides had 
other rights over the territory in question inherited from the 
Dutch. Captain Owen's action was not, it is true, suc- 
ceeded by immediate occupation, and the British case would 
have been a very weak one judged by the severe rules of 
the Berlin Convention of 1884. But then, if Portuguese 
territory in East Africa had been delimited by the same 
severe rules it would have been reduced to a few fortified 
settlements. Great Britain had a fair claim to the south shore 
of Delagoa Bay, and the award of Marshal MacMahon was a 
prejudiced one, said to have been mainly due to the influence 
of his wife, who was an ardent Roman Catholic, and had been 
won over to the Portuguese cause in other ways. 

Subsequent to the Delagoa Bay award, the Portuguese 
made determined efforts to explore and conquer the South-east 
coast of Africa and the countries along the lower Zambezi. 
To the extreme north of their Mozambique possessions they 
had a dispute with the Sultan of Zanzibar as to the possession 
of Tungi Bay and the south shore of the mouth of the river 
Ruvuma. After their disastrous struggle with the Arabs in 
the 17 th and i8th centuries the Portuguese had defined the 
northern limit of their East African possessions as Cape 
Delgado, and Cape Delgado would have given them the whole 
of Tungi Bay, though not the mouth of the Ruvuma. It is 
evident that the Sultan of Zanzibar was trespassing as a ruler 
when he claimed Tungi Bay, though not when he claimed the 
mouth of the Ruvuma. Portugal, losing patience at the time 
of the division of the Zanzibar Sultanate between England and 
Gennany, made an armed descent on Tungi Bay in 1889, and 



II.] The Portuguese in Africa, 59 

has since held it, though the Germans withdrew from her 
control the Ruvuma mouth, which they claimed as an in- 
heritance of the Sultan of Zanzibar. 

The establishment of the British South African Company 
in 1889, and the consequent development of Mashonaland and 
Matabeleland subjected the Portuguese territories south of 
the Zambezi to a searching scrutiny on the part of these 
merchant adventurers, who laid hands on behalf of Great 
Britain on all territory where the Portuguese could not prove 
claims supported by occupation or ruling influence. The 
strongest temptation existed to ignore Portuguese claims on 
the Pungwe river and push a way down to the sea at Beira ; 
but a spirit of justice prevailed and no real transgression of 
Portuguese rights was sanctioned by the British Government, 
or indeed attempted by the Company. In June, 1891, after 
several unsuccessful attempts, a convention was arrived at 
between England and Portugal, which defined tolerably clearly 
the boundaries of British and Portuguese territories in South- 
east, South-west, and South-central Africa. Rights of way were 
obtained under fair conditions both at Beira and at Chinde. 
Since this time a friendlier feeling has been growing up 
between the Enghsh and Portuguese. The Portuguese have 
been making steady efforts to bring under control their richly 
endowed East African province. For some time after their 
settlement with Great Britain they were menaced in the south 
by the power of Gungunyama, a Zulu king who ruled over the 
Gaza country, and who had been in the habit of raiding the 
interior behind the Portuguese settlements of Louren9o 
Marquez and Inhambane. The Portuguese warred against 
him for three years without satisfactory results, until Major 
Mouzinho de Albuquerque by a bold stroke of much bravery 
marched into Gungunyama's camp with a handful of Portuguese 
soldiers and took the king prisoner. For this gallant action he 
was eventually promoted to be Governor-General of Portuguese 
East Africa, and has since done something towards bringing 



6o The Colonization of Africa, [Chap. ii. 

under subjection the turbulent Makua tribes opposite Mogam- 
bique. The Portuguese have never yet conquered the Angoche 
country which lies between Quelimane and Mo9ambique, and 
which is largely in the hands of chiefs descended from Zanzibar 
Arabs. 

The greater portion of their south-east African possessions 
has been handed over to the administration of a Chartered 
Company — which although entirely Portuguese in direction 
derives its capital mainly from English and French sources. 
This Mo9ambique Company since its institution in 1891 has 
done much to open up the country, but further development is 
chiefly due to the British South African Company, who have 
constructed a line of railway from the Pungwe river, near 
Beira, to the eastern frontier of Mashonaland. A similar 
company, the Nyasa Company, was to have developed the 
country to the north of Mozambique between Lake Nyasa and 
the coast, but after a doubtful existence of a year or so this 
association was dissolved. 



PORTUOUESE AFRICA 



IAnae/ Ptrlugtuu Pauaiimt In iSio 



CHAPTER III. 



SPANISH AFRICA. 

The enterprise of Spain in Africa was relatively so small 
(the greater part of Spanish energy being devoted to founding 
an empire in the New World, in the far East, in Italy and 
Flanders) and was also politically so knit up at first with the 
Portuguese colonial empire that the little there is to say about 
it may be recorded in the shortest chapter of this book. 

At the close of the 15 th century the Spaniards followed up 
their expulsion of the Moors from Spain by attacking them on 
the North coast of Africa. They established themselves at 
Melilla*, Oran, Algiers*, Bugia, Bona, Hunein, Susa, Monastir, 
Mehedia, Sfax, and Goletta'. The apogee of Spanish power in 
North Africa was reached about 1535, at which time the 
Spaniards alternately with the Turks dominated the Barbary 
States. Then, owing to victory inclining to the Turkish 
corsairs*, the Spaniards* hold over the country began to 

^ In 1490. 

* Or the rock, or " Pefion," overlooking the town, seized and garrisoned 
by Cardinal Ximenez in 1509. It was taken by Khaireddin, the Turkish 
corsair, in 1530. 

^ Held by Spain from 1535 to 1574. 

* The following is a risumi of the history of the intervention of Turkey 
in Barbary. In 1504 Uruj (Barbarossa I), a pirate of mixed Turco-Greek 
origin, attracted by the rumours of American treasure-ships in the western 
Mediterranean, captured Algiers (15 16) and Tlemsan (15 17); but he was 
defeated and killed by the Spaniards coming from Oran. His younger 
brother Khaireddin (Barbarossa II) appealed to Turkey, which had just 
(1518) conquered Egypt, and received from Sultan Selim the title of 
Turkish Beglerbeg of Algiers and a reinforcement of 2000 Turks. He 



62 The Colonization of Africa. [Chap. 

decline. A resolute attempt was made by Charles V in 1541 
to take and hold the town of Algiers, the Spanish having lost 
Peiion, a rock fortress overlooking part of the town. This 
attempt of 1541 (only less serious than the French expedition 
of 1830) would probably have succeeded but for a torrential 
downpour of rain, which made the surrounding country impass- 
able to the Spanish guns and cavalry, and led to a terrible rout. 
Had Algiers fallen at this time its capture might have resulted 
in a Spanish empire of North Africa. As it was, this twenty- 
■ four hours' downpour of rain changed the future of the northern 
part of the continent, or rather prevented a change which 
might have .had very far-reaching results. Charles V had 
invaded Tunis in 1535 at the appeal of the last sovereign but 
one of the House of Hafs, who had been dispossessed by the 
Turkish pirate, Khaireddin. Although his intervention was 
ultimately unsuccessful, and his prottgk was killed and suc- 
ceeded by his son — who more or less intrigued with the 
Turkish corsairs — the Spaniards retained their hold on Goletta 
till 1574, the Turks having then definitely intervened in the 
affairs of Tunis. The Spaniards surrendered Goletta to the 
renegade pirate, Ochiali, and with it went all their influence 
over Tunis. An expedition which they had sent to the island 
of Jerba in 1560, under the Duke de Medina-Coeli and the 
younger Doria, ended in a great disaster, a defeat at the hands 
of the Moorish pirates who massacred, it is said, not less than 
18,000 Spaniards (May, 1560). Their skulls were built into 
a tower, which remained visible near the town of Humt Suk 
till 1840, when the kindly Maltese settlers on this island 
obtained permission from the Bey of Tunis to give Christian 
burial to the Spanish skulls, which now are interred in the 

mastered almost all Algeria; was made Admiral of the Turkish fleet 
in 1533; captured Tunis in 1534; was driven out by Charles V; and 
.retired to Turkey in 1535. His successors were sometimes Sardinian, 
Calabrian, Venetian, Hungarian renegades; but among the more celebrated 
was Dragut, a Turk of Caramania. 



III.] Spanish Africa, 63 

Christian cemetery at Humt Suk. For brief intervals the 
Spaniards held other coast towns* of Tunis, but in retiring 
from Goletta they withdrew from all their places in the 
Regency. 

They were finally expelled from Oran in 1791. They had 
been turned out of this place in 1708, but recaptured it 
after a period of 24 years, and held it for 59 years longer. 
Spain only retains at the present day on the North coast 
of Africa the little island of Melilla^ the island of Alhucemas, 
the rock of Velez de la Gomera, the Chafarinas Islands', 
and the rocky promontory of Ceuta. Ceuta (and Tetwan, 
which she once possessed) she inherited from Portugal after 
a separation had once more taken place between the two 
monarchies in 1640. On the strength of some clause in an 
old treaty Spain has also recently secured from Morocco the 
town of Ifni, near Cape Nun on the Atlantic coast and nearly 
opposite the Canary Islands. 

The Canary Islands were discovered by a Norman adven- 
turer, Jean de Bethencourt, were occupied by Portugal, but 
ceded by that country to Spain (or rather, Castile) in 1479. 
Prior to their occupation the islands were inhabited by a 
Berber race of some antiquity known as the Guanches. These 
were partly exterminated, and partly absorbed by the Spanish 
settlers, to whom they were so much akin in blood that 
complete race fusion was rendered easy, especially as the 
Guanches had not been reached by Muhammadanism. The 
Canary Islands now form politically part of Spain. They are 
thoroughly civilized, and are well governed and prosperous. 
The two principal islands, Tenerife and Grand Canary, are 
favourite health resorts. 

^ Susa, Sfax, and Monastir, which were lost to the Turks by 1550. 

^ The oldest of her continental African possessions, dating from 1490. 

' The Chafarinas Islands are oflf the mouth of the Muluya river, near 
the Algerian frontier. They were seized by the Spaniards in 1849, 
forestalling the French. 



64 The Colonization of Africa, [Chap. 

Curiously enough Spain allowed her influence over the 
coast opposite the Canary Islands to lapse between the end of 
the 1 6th century and the scramble for Africa which com- 
menced in 1884. Meantime an English trading firm with 
agencies in the Canary Islands had been established at Cape 
Juby, south of the Morocco border, and British influence for a 
time dominated the coast immediately opposite the Canary 
Islands, and arrested Spanish action in that neighbourhood. 
When the scramble for Africa took place in 1884, however, the 
Spanish, who were greatly interested in the North-west coast, 
raised their flag at an inlet called the Rio d*Ouro*, and de- 
clared a Protectorate over the Sahara coast between Cape 
Blanco and Cape Bojador and for a varying distance inland. 
This Protectorate has since been extended slightly to the 
north beyond Cape Bojador, but the Empire of Morocco now 
extends to the south of Cape Juby to meet the Spanish 
frontier, the Moorish Government having bought up the claims 
of the English company. The inland boundary of this Spanish 
Protectorate is not yet settled as between France and Spain. 
The only settlement of any importance or size is at the Rio 
d'Ouro. 

In 1778 Spain, which had become very much interested in 
the slave trade on the West coast of Africa, on account of the 
need for a regular supply of slaves to her South American 
possessions, obtained from Portugal the cession of the island 
of Fernando Po, and also took over the island of Anno Bom 
— the last of this series of equatorial volcanic islands and the 
smallest. About the same time the Spaniards made a settle- 
ment at Corisco Bay". The Spanish claims extend some 
distance up the river Muni. No boundaries have as yet been 

^ This Portuguese name becomes in Spanish Rio de Oro. 

^ This also, like so many other places on the West coast of Africa, was 
named by the Portuguese; Corisco meaning "sheet lightning," a name 
applied to the place because it was first seen during a violent thunder- 
storm. 



III.] Spanish Africa, 65 

settled with the French. This very interesting strip of Equa- 
torial West African Coast is emphatically the home of the 
gorilla. 

At the end of the i8th century the Spanish island of 
Fernando Po was almost abandoned. When the British under- 
took to put down the slave trade off the West African Coast, 
Fernando Po became their head-quarters (in 1829), and in 
time they were allowed to administer it by the Spanish 
Government, the British representative or ** Superintendent'' 
being made at the same time a Governor with a Spanish 
commission. But in 1844 the Spanish decided to resume the 
direct administration, and refused to sell their rights to Great 
Britain, though overtures were made to that end. Until ten 
years ago nothing had been done to develop the resources 
of this densely forested, very fertile, but unhealthy island. Of 
late, however, some encouragement has been given to planters. 
From the island having been for so long under British control, 
English is understood in Fernando Po much better than 
Spanish, and a number of freed slaves from Sierra Leone are 
settled there who talk nothing but an English dialect The 
indigenous inhabitants are a Bantu tribe of short stature 
known as the Bube^ This tribe is distantly related to the 
people of the northern part of the Cameroons, and speaks a 
Bantu dialect. 

^ Bube is said to be a cant term meaning **male" (from the Bantu 
root, 'umCi -lume) and the real name of this race is Ediya. 



J. A. 






CHAPTER IV. 



THE DUTCH IN AFRICA. 



Although, as will be seen in Chapter VI, British explorers 
were the first adventurers of other nationalities to follow the 
5 Portuguese in the exploration of Africa, the Dutch, as 

• ^ settlers and colonists, are almost entitled to rank chronologi- 

^ cally next to the Portuguese and Spanish. The Dutch made 

^ **— their first trading voyage to the Guinea Coast in 1595, 16 years 
after throwing oflf the yoke of Spain. On the plea of warring 
with the Spanish Empire, which then included Portugal, they 
displaced the latter power at various places along the West 
coast of Africa — at Arguin, at Goree (purchased from the 
natives 1621), Elmina (1637), and at Sad Paulo de Loanda 
about the same time ; while they also threatened Mogambique 
on the East coast, and possessed themselves of the island of 
Mauritius, which had been a place of call for Portuguese ships. 
On the West coast of Africa, besides supplanting the Portu- 
guese, the Dutch established themselves strongly on the Gold 
y Coast by means of 16 new forts of their own\ in most cases 

^ Their "capital" was at Elmina; they held — when in full vigour — 
Fort Nassau (built before they took Elmina from the Portuguese) » 
Kormantin, Secondee, Takorari, Accra, Cape Coast Castle, Vredenburg, 
Chama, Batenstein, Dikjeschopt (Insuma), Fort Elise Carthage (Ankobra), 
Apollonia, Dixcove, Axim, Prince's Fort near Cape Three-points, Fort 
Wibsen, and Pokquesoe. Before the abolition of the slave trade, Dutch 
Guinea was very prosperous. It was governed by a subsidized Chartered 



Chap, iv.] The Dutch in Africa. 67 

alongside British settlements, which were regarded by the 
Dutch with the keenest jealousy. 

Dutch hold on the Gold Coast produced an impression in 
the shape of a race of Dutch half-castes, which endures to this 
day, and furnishes useful employes to the British Government 
in many minor capacities. But after the abolition of the slave 
trade Dutch commerce with the Guinea Coast began to wane, 
and their political influence disappeared also : so that by 1872 
the last of the Dutch ports had been transferred to Great 
Britain in return for the cession on our part of rights we 
possessed over Sumatra. Meantime Dutch trade had begun 
to take firm hold over the Congo and Angola Coast, and it is 
possible that, had the cession of the Gold Coast forts been 
delayed a few years longer, it would never have been made, for 
Holland possesses a considerable trade with Africa, and there 
has been a strong feeling of regret in the Netherlands for 
some time past at the exclusion of that country's flag from 
the African continent. 

But a far more important colonization than a foothold on 
the Slave-trade Coast was made indirectly for Holland in the 
middle of the 1 7th century ; the Dutch East India Company, 
desirous of making the Cape of Good Hope something more 
than a port of call, which might fall into the hands of Portugal, 
France, England, or any other rival, decided to occupy that 
important station. The Dutch had taken possession of St 
Helena in 1645, ^^^ ^ Dutch ship having been wrecked at 
Table Bay in 1648, the crew landed, and encamped where 

Company — the Dutch West India Co. — under the control of the States 
General, and the local government consisted of a Governor-General at 
Elmina, a chief Factor (or trader), a chief Fiscal (or accountant-general), 
an under-fiscal (or auditor) and a large staff of factors, accountants, 
secretaries, clerks and assistant clerks. There was a chaplain ; there were 
Dutch soldiers under Dutch* officers who garrisoned the forts. After the 
wars of the French Revolution the Dutch Government took over the 
management of these establishments on the Gold Coast. 

5—2 




68 The Colonization of Africa, [Chap. 

Cape Town now stands. Here they were obliged to live for 
five months, until picked up by other Dutch ships ; but during 
this period they sowed and reaped grain, and obtained plenty 
of meat firom the natives, with whom they were on good terms. 
The favourable report they gave of this country on their return 
to Holland decided the Dutch Company, after years of hesita- 
tion, to take possession of Table Bay. An expedition was 
sent out under Jan van Riebeek, a ship's surgeon, who had 
already visited South Africa. The three ships of Van Riebeek's 
expedition reached Table Bay on the 6th of April, 1652^ — ■ 
/ At different periods in the early part of the i6th century 

the Dutch had consolidated their sea-going ventures into two 
great chartered companies — the Dutch Company of the West 
Indies, and the Dutch Company of the East Indies. The 
West Indian Company took over all the settlements on the 
West Coast of Africa, and had the monopoly of trade or rule 
along all the Atlantic Coast of tropical America. The East 
India Company was to possess the like monopoly from the 
Pacific Coast of South America across the Indian Ocean to 
the Cape of Good Hope. The head-quarters of the East 
India Company, where their Governor-General and Council 
were established, was at Batavia, in the island of Java. It was 
not at first intended to estabhsh anything like a colony in 
South Africa — merely a secure place of call for the ships 
engaged in the Blast Indian trade. But circumstances proved 
too strong for this modest reserve. The inevitable quarrel 
arose between the Dutch garrison at Table Bay and the 
surrounding Hottentots. At the time of the Dutch settlement 
of the Cape all the south-west corner of Africa was in- 
habited only and sparsely by Hottentots and Bushmen; the 
prolific Bantu Negroes not coming nearer to the Dutch than 



^ As Mr Lucas points out in his Historical Geography of the British 
Colonies^ ** 165 years after Bartolomeu Diaz had sighted the Cape of 
Good Hope." 



IV.] The Dutch in Africa. 69 

the vicinity of Algoa Bay. A little war occurred with the 
Hottentots in 1659, as a result of which the Dutch first won 
by fighting, and subsequently bought, a small coast strip of 
land from Saldanha Bay on the north to False Bay on the 
south, thus securing the peninsula which terminates at the 
Cape of Good Hope. French sailing vessels were in the habit 
of calling at Saldanha Bay, and in 1666 and 1670 desultory 
attempts were made by the French to establish a footing there. 
Holland also about this time was alternately at war with 
England or France or both powers. Therefore the Dutch re- 
solved to build forts more capable of resisting European attack 
than those which were sufficient to defend the colony against 
Hottentots. Still, in spite of occasional unprovoked hostilities 
on the part of the Dutch, they were left in possession of the 
Cape of Good Hope for more than a hundred years. The 
English had St Helena as a place of call (which they took 
from the Dutch in 1655), and the French had settlements 
in Madagascar and at Mauritius, where they succeeded a 
former Dutch occupation. On the other hand, the officials of 
the Dutch Company were instructed to show civility to all 
comers without undue generosity; they might supply them 
with water for their ships, but they were to give as little as 
possible in the way of provisions and ships' stores. It was to 
the interest of both France and England that some European 
settlement should exist at the Cape of Good Hope for the 
refreshment of vessels and the refuge of storm-driven ships. 
After several attempts, which continued down to 1673, to 
dispossess the English of St Helena, the Dutch finally sur- 
rendered the island to them. They had also in 1598 
taken the Island of Mauritius, and commenced a definite 
occupation in 1640. But this island was abandoned in 17 10, 
and became soon afterwards a French possession. So that the 
French at Mauritius on the one hand (and also at the Island 
of Bourbon) and the English on the other at St Helena, had 
places of call where . they could break the long voyage to and 



70 The Colonization of Africa, [Chap. 

from India, and were therefore content to leave the Dutch 
undisturbed in South Africa. 

The Government of the Netherlands East India Company 
was thoroughly despotic. It was administered by a Chamber 
of 17 directors at Amsterdam, with deputies at Batavia. The 
Commandant at the Cape, who was alternately under the 
orders of Amsterdam and Batavia — and who might be over- 
ruled by any officer of superior rank who called at his station 
in passing — was the slave of the Company, and had to carry 
out its orders implicitly. He was advised in his local legis- 
lation by an executive council, which consisted of a number of 
officers, who assisted him in the administration, and who 
legislated by means of proclamations and orders in council 
without any representation of popular opinion among the 
colonists, who, however, in time were allowed to elect mem- 
bers of the Council of Justice (i.e. High Court). 

After the first three years' hesitation, strenuous efforts were 
directed to the development of agriculture, especially the 
cultivation of grain. Wheat was sown in suitable localities, 
and vines were planted on the hillsides at the back of Cape 
Town. Nevertheless the colonists were terribly hampered by 
restrictions, which made them almost slaves to the Company. 
White labour proving expensive and somewhat rebellious, an 
attempt was made to introduce Negro slaves from Angola and 
Guinea, but they were not a success as field labourers. The 
Dutch therefore turned towards Madagascar, and above all, to 
the Malay Archipelago, and from the latter especially workers 
were introduced who have in time grown into a separate 
population of Muhammadan freemen of considerable pros- 
perity*. As Dutch immigrants still held back fi-om settling 
the Cape with an abundant population (owing to the greed 
and despotic meddlesomeness of the Company), it became 
more and more necessary to introduce black labour^ and in 

1 The " Cape Malays.'* 



IV.] The Dutch in Africa, 71 

the first half of the i8th century many negro slaves were 
imported from West Africa and from Mo9ambique. The 
Cape became a slave-worked colony, but on the whole the 
slaves were treated with kindness ; their children were sent to 
school, and some attempt was made to introduce Christianity 
amongst them. The people really to be pitied, however, were 
not the imported slaves, but the Hottentots, who had become 
a nation of serfs to the Dutch farmers, and whose numbers 
began greatly to diminish under the influence of drink and 
syphilis, and from being driven away by degrees from the 
fertile, well-watered lands back into the inhospitable deserts. 
After the colony had been established 30 years a census 
showed a total of 663 Dutch settlers, of whom 162 were 
children. For about the same period few if any attempts were 
made to explore the country 100 miles from Cape Town; but 
the coast from Little Namaqualand on the West to Zululand 
on the East had been examined by the end of the 1 7th cen- 
tury. Indeed the Bay of Natal was purchased by a represen- 
tative of the Netherlands Company in 1689, but the ship 
bringing back the purchase deed was lost, and no further 
attempt was made to push the claim. In 1684 the first export 
of grain to the Indies took place, and in 1688 some Cape wine 
was sent to Ceylon. In 1685 and in subsequent years repre- 
sentations were made to the directors in Amsterdam that the 
colony consisted mainly of bachelors, and that good marriage- 
able girls should be sent out. The result of this appeal was 
that in 1687 many of the free Burghers (namely, persons more 
or less independent of the Company) had been furnished with 
wives, and they and their famihes amounted to nearly 600, in 
addition to 439 other Europeans, who were mainly employes 
of the Company. 

In 1685, Louis XIV unwittingly dealt a fearful blow to 
France in the revocation of the Edict of Nantes, which resulted 
in thousands of French Protestants emigrating to other countries 
where they might enjoy freedom of religion. The Protestant 



72 The Colonization of Africa, [Chap. 

Dutch sympathized with the homeless Huguenots, and the 
Netherlands Company decided to give free passages and grants 
of land to a number of these refugees. By 1689 nearly 
200 French emigrants had been landed at the Cape and 
settled in the mountain country behind Cape Town. Here, 
however, they were not allowed to form a separate community. 
They were scattered amongst the Dutch settlers, their children 
were taught Dutch, and in a few years they were thoroughly 
absorbed in the Dutch community; though they have left 
ineffaceable traces of their presence in the many French sur- 
names to be met with amongst the South African Dutch at 
the present day (always pronounced however in the Dutch 
way), and in the dark eyes, dark hair, and handsome features 
of the better type of Frenchman. Handsomer men and women 
than are some of the Afrikanders it would be impossible to 
meet with, but this personal beauty is almost invariably trace- 
able to Huguenot ancestry. The French settlers taught the 
Dutch improved methods of growing corn and wine, and 
altogether more scientific agriculture. Towards the latter end 
of the 1 7th century the Dutch introduced the oak tree into the 
Cape Peninsula and the suburbs of Cape Town, where it is 
now such a handsome and prominent feature. All this time 
the Hottentots gave almost no trouble. They were employed 
here and there as servants ; but they attempted no insurrection 
against the European settlers, though they quarrelled very 
much amongst themselves. In 17 13 large numbers of them 
were exterminated by an epidemic of smallpox. The Dutch 
had not yet come into contact with the so-called Kaffirs ^ 

Towards the middle of the i8th century the Dutch Com- 
pany ceased to prosper — suffering from French and English 
competition. Already, at the beginning of the iSth century^ 

^ It will be no doubt remembered that this term is derived from the 
Arab word ** unbeliever." The Arabs of south-east Africa applied this 
term to the Negroes around their settlements. The Portuguese took it up 
from the Arabs, and the Dutch and English from the Portuguese. 



IV.] The Dutch in Africa. 73 

its oppressive rule, and the abuse of power on the part of its 
governors, who used its authority and its servants to enrich 
themselves, resulted in an uprising amongst the settlers, and 
although some of these were arrested, imprisoned, and exiled, 
the Company gave some redress to their grievances by for- 
bidding its officials in future to own land or to trade. Even 
before this the Company had found it necessary to place a 
special official, answering to an Auditor-General and an in- 
dependent judge combined, alongside the Commandant or 
Governor, directly responsible to the Directors and independent 
of the Governor's authority; but this institution only led to 
quarrels and divided loyalty. Amongst the governors there 
were some able and upright men, and special mention may be 
made of Governor Tulbagh, who ruled without reproach and 
with great ability for twenty years (1751-71)^ 

In spite of licences and monopolies, tithes, taxes, and 
rents, the Company could not pay its way in Cape Colony. 
In 1779, it was more closely associated with the State in 
Holland by the appointment of the Stadhouder (or Head of 
the State) as perpetual Chief Director. With this change, the 
Company, partly supported by the State, managed to continue 
the direction of its affairs, and there was possibly some lessen- 
ing of restrictions, which enabled settlers to live further afield. 
Until the beginning of the i8th century a standing order had 
forbidden trading between the settlers and the natives, but 
this order being abolished, the farmers commenced to buy 
cattle from the Hottentots, and the population became more 
scattered. In leasing land to the farmers the Company laid 
down the rule that clear spaces of three miles should intervene 
between one homestead and the next, and this rule brought 
about a wider distribution of European settlers than was con- 
templated in the Company's policy. 

^ Tulbagh deserves special remembrance not only from his geo- 
graphical explorations, but from the fact that he was the first person 
to send specimens of the giraffe to Europe. • 



74 TJu Colonization of Africa, [Chap. 

By the beginning of the i8th century the Dutch settlers 
had begun to cross the mountains which lie behind the narrow 
belt of coast land that forms a projection into the ocean on 
either side of the Cape of Gk)od Hope. Seventy years later 
the boundaries of Cape Colony on the north and west were 
the Berg River and the Zwartebergen Mountains, and on the 
east the Gamtoos River. A few years later the pioneers of 
colonization had crossed the Berg River, and had established 
themselves as far north as the Olifants River, so named be- 
cause earlier explorers had seen on its banks herds of hundreds 
of elephants. The Orange River was first discovered in 1760, 
and in 1779 Captain Gordon, a Scotchman in the service of 
the Dutch Company, had traced it for some distance down to 
its mouth, and had named it after the head of the Dutch State. 
Hitherto, the Dutch Government was confined to a narrow 
coast strip, but in 1785 the district of Graaf Reinet * was formed, 
and the same name was given to the village which formed its 
capital. Then the Dutch boundary crept up to the Great Fish 
River, which rises far away to the north, near the course of the 
Orange River. This Great Fish River remained the eastern- 
most, boundary of the Colony in Dutch times. To the north 
its limits were vague, and in one direction reached nearly to 
the Orange River, beyond the second great range of South 
Afi-ican mountains — the Sneeubergen. But beyond the imme- 
diate limits of Cape Colony the Dutch displayed some interest. 
They attempted to seize Mogambique from the Portuguese in 
1643. They opened up a furtive and occasional trade with 
the Portuguese coast of Blast Africa, which at first began for 
slaves (numbers of Makua were brought from Mozambique to 
Cape Town) and continued for tropical products, and, with 
many interruptions, resulted in the establishment at the present 

* Named after Van de Graaf, who was Governor at the time. 
"Reinet" means in Dutch "a goat's beard," but I have not been able 
to discover why this term should have been added to the name of the 
Governor. 



IV.] The Dutch in Africa. 75 

day of important Dutch commercial firms along the Mozambique 
coast In 1720, after abandoning Mauritius, an expedition 
was sent from Cape Colony to Delagoa Bay, which, though 
claimed by the Portuguese, had been abandoned by them at 
the beginning of the i8th century, so far as actual occupation 
was concerned. (See above, p. 56.) A fort was built by the 
Dutch which was named Lydzaamheid, and tentative explora- 
tions were made in the direction of the Zambezi, from which 
gold dust was procured. During ten years of occupation, 
however, the deaths from fever were so numerous that the 
settlement was given up in 1730. 

In 1770 the total European population in Cape Colony 
was nearly 10,000, of whom more than 8000 were free colonists, 
and the remainder " servants " and employes of the Company. 
All this time, although the prosperity of the Cape increased and 
its export of wheat, wine, and live-stock progressed satisfactorily, 
the revenue invariably failed to meet the expenditure, and if 
other events had not occurred the Dutch Company must soon 
have been compelled by bankruptcy to transfer the administra- 
tion of the Cape to other hands. But towards the close of the 
18th century, the Dutch, too weak to resist the influence of 
France and Russia, were showing veiled hostility towards 
England, with the result that England — which on the other 
hand was secretly longing to possess the Cape, owing to the 
development of the British Empire in India — declared war 
against the Netherlands at the end of 1780. In 178 1 a British 
fleet under Commodore Johnstone left England for the Cape 
of Good Hope with 3000 troops on board. Johnstone, how- 
ever, from storms and other reasons not so apparent, but 
possibly due to a certain indecision of mind, delayed his fleet 
at Porto Praya, in the Cape Verde Islands, and news of the 
expedition having been treacherously imparted to France by 
persons in England who were in her pay. Admiral Suffren — 
one of the greatest of seamen — surprised the British fleet at 
the Cape Verde Islands with a squadron of inferior strength. 



^ 



y6 The Colonization of Africa, [Chap. 

and gave it such a sound drubbing that Johnstone was delayed 
for several months in reaching Cape Town, where the French 
had preceded him, and had landed sufficient men to make a 
British attack on Cape Town of doubtful success. Johnstone 
therefore contented himself in a not very creditable way with 
destroying the unarmed Dutch shipping in the port, and then 
left Cape Town without effecting a landing. The result was the 
garrisoning of Cape Town by a French regiment for two more 
years, during which time however another attempt was made 
by the British to seize the Cape, which was nearly success- 
ful. During this war, however, England apparently made 
up her mind that the possession of the Cape of Good Hope 
and of Trincomalee in Ceylon was necessary to the welfare 
of her Indian possessions, and did not lose sight of this policy 
when the next legitimate opportunity presented itself to make 
war upon Holland. On the other hand, the French, though 
they withdrew their troops in 1783, were equally alive to the 
importance of the Cape, and in the great duel which was to 
take place between the two nations it is tolerably certain that 
South Africa would never have remained in the hands of the 
Dutch ; if it had not become English it would have been taken 
and kept by the French. 

About this time the Dutch came into conflict with the 
Kaffirs. This vanguard of the great Bantu race had been 
invading southern Africa almost concurrently with the white 
people. Coming from the north-east and north they had — we 
may guess — crossed the Zambezi about the commencement of 
the Christian Era, and their invasion had brought about the 
partial destruction and abandonment of the Sabaean or Arab 
settlements in the gold-mining districts of south-east Africa. 
The Semitic inhabitants of Zimbabwe and other mining centres 
had been driven back to the coast at Sofala. The progress of 
the black Bantu against the now more concentrated Hottentots 
and Bushmen was then somewhat slower, delayed no doubt by 
natural obstacles, by the desperate defence of the Hottentots, 



IV.] The Dutch in Africa. yy 

the tracts of waterless country on the west, and internecine war- 
fare amongst themselves. Overlaying the first three divisions 
of Bantu invaders came down across the Zambezi from the 
districts of Tanganyika the great Zulu race, akin to the Maka- 
laka and Bechuana people who had preceded them, but less 
mixed with Hottentot blood, and speaking a less corrupted 
Bantu language^ By the beginning of the i8th century this 
seventh wave — as one may call it — of Bantu invasion had 
swept as far south as the Great Kei River, a,nd some years 
later had pushed the Hottentots back to the Great Fish River. 
In 1778 they came into direct contact with the Dutch, and the 
Governor of the Cape entered into an agreement with the 
Kaffir chiefs that the Great Fish River should be the boundary 
between Dutch rule and Kaffir settlement. Nevertheless, this 
agreement was soon transgressed by the Kaffirs, who com- 
menced raiding the Dutch setrters. In 1781 the first Kaffir 
war ended disastrously for the Bantu invaders, who were 
driven back for a time to the Kei River. Eight years later 
they again invaded Cape Colony. A foolish policy of con- 
ciliation was adopted, which ended by the Kaffirs being 
allowed to settle on the Dutch side of the Great Fish River 
in 1789. 

In 1790 the Netherlands East India Company was prac- 
tically bankrupt, and in the following year (when it was com- 
puted that the European population of the Cape numbered 
14,600 persons, owning 17,000 slaves) the Dutch Governor was 
recalled to Europe, and the country was for a year left in a 
state of administrative chaos, until two Commissioners, sent out 
by the States General, arrived and took over the government. 
But the next year these Commissioners went on to Batavia, 

^ Nevertheless, by their final and more complete contact with the 
Hottentots the Zulu-Kaffirs adopted three of the Hottentot clicks ; whereas 
earlier invaders — Makalaka, Bechuana, and Herero — though adopting a 
few Hottentot terms, kept clear of Hottentot phonetics, and use no clicks 
to this day. 



78 TIte Colonization of Africa. [Chap. 

and the Burghers of the interior districts became so dissatisfied 
with the mismanagement of afifairs that they expelled their 
magistrates and took the administration of their district into 
their own hands, calling themselves " Nationals," and becoming 
to some degree infected with the spirit of the French Revolution. 
Meantime, in the same year, 1793, the Dutch Government had 
joined England and Prussia in making war upon France. Two 
years afterwards — in 1795 — the French troops had occupied 
Holland, and had turned it into the Batavian Republic, a state 
in alliance with France. The Prince of Orange, hereditary 
Stadhouder of the Netherlands, had fled to England, and in 
the spring of 1795 ^^ authorized the British Government to 
occupy Cape Colony on behalf of the States General in order 
to obviate its seizure by the French. In June 1 795 a British 
fleet carrying troops commanded by General Craig arrived at 
False Bay. The Dutch were not very willing to surrender 
Cape Town at the first demand, even though the interior of 
the country was in revolt against the Company. Both the 
officer administering the Company's Government and the dis- 
satisfied Burghers sank their differences in opposition to the 
landing of the British. The latter were anxious to avoid 
hostilities, and therefore spent a month in negotiations, but 
on the 14th of July the British forcibly occupied Simon Town, 
and three weeks later drove the Dutch from a position they 
had taken up near Cape Town. In September 3000 more 
troops arrived under General Clarke, and in the middle of that 
month marched on Cape Town from the south-east; A capi- 
tulation was finally arranged after an attack and a defence 
which had been half-hearted. Thenceforth for eight years the 
English occupied Cape Town and administered the adjoining 
colony. At first their rule was military, just, and satisfactory ; 
afterwards when a civilian governor was sent out a system of 
corruption and favouritism was introduced which caused much 
dissatisfaction. The British also had made it known that they 
only held the colony in trust for the Stadhouder, and this made 



IV.] Tlie Dutch in Africa. 79 

the Dutch settlers uncertain as to their allegiance. Meantime, 
however, the British administration gave some satisfaction to 
the settlers by its policy of free trade and open markets, and 
by certain reliefs in taxation; also by the institution of a 
Burgher Senate of six members. But the Boers of the interior 
remained for some time recalcitrant. The Dutch, moreover, 
made an attempt to regain possession of the Cape by despatch- 
ing a fleet of nine ships with 2000 men on board, which, how- 
ever, was made to surrender at Saldanha Bay by Admiral 
Elphinstone and General Craig without firing a shot Kaffir 
raids recommenced, and the British having organized a 
Hottentot corps of police, the other Hottentots who were 
serfs to the Dutch rose in insurrection against their former 
masters. When in 1803 the British evacuated Cape Town 
they did not leave the colony in a sufficiently satisfactory 
condition to encourage the Dutch settlers to opt for British 
rule. From 1803 to 1806 the Dutch Government ruled Cape 
Colony as a colony, and not as the appendage of a Chartered 
company, which had now disappeared. The Cape ceased to 
be subordinate to Batavia, and possessed a Governor and 
Council of its own. . A check was placed on the importation 
of slaves, and European immigration was encouraged. Postal 
communication and the administration of justice were organized 
or improved. In fact, the Commissioner-General De Mist and 
Governor Janssens, in the two years and nine months of their 
rule, laid the foundations of an excellent system of colonial 
government. But the march of events was too strong for 
them. The great minister Pitt, in the summer of 1805, secretly 
organized an expedition which should carry nearly 7000 troops 
to seize the Cape. In spite of delays and storms, this fleet 
reached Table Bay at the beginning of January, 1806. Six 
British regiments were landed 18 miles north of Cape Town. 
Governor Janssens went out to meet them with such poor 
forces as he could gather together — 2000 in all against 4000 
British. The result of course was disastrous to the Dutch, 



/ 



8o The Colonization of Africa. [Chap. 

whose soldiers mainly consisted of half-hearted' German mer- 
cenaries. On the 1 6th of January, Cape Town surrendered, 
and after some futile resistance by Janssens in the interior, 
a capitulation was signed on January i8, and Janssens and 
the Dutch soldiers were sent back to the Netherlands by the 
British Government. 

By a Convent ion da ted August 13, 18 14, the Dutch 
Government with the Prince of Orange at its head ceded C&pe 
Colony and the American possession of Demerara to Great 
Britain against the payment of ;^6,ooo,ooo, which was made 
either by the actual tendering of money to the Dutch Govern- 
ment, or the wiping off of Dutch debts. 

On the other hand, the surrender of the Cape to Great 
Britain induced the latter power to give back to Holland most 
of the Dutch possessions in the East Indies, which we had 
seized and administered during the Napoleonic wars. If 
Holland lost South Africa — which she had only directly ruled 
for three years — she was enabled by our friendly attitude of self- 
denial to build up an empire in the East only second in wealth 
and population to the Asiatic dominions of Great Britain. 

Yet, in an indirect fashion, Dutch Africa exists still, though 
the flag of Holland no longer waves over any portion of 
African soil as a ruling power. The old rivalry between the 
English and the Dutch, which had begun almost as soon as 
the Dutch were a free people, and competitors with us for the 
trade of the East and West Indies, had created a feeling of 
enmity between the two races, which ought never to have 
existed, seeing how nearly they are of the same stock, and how 
closely allied in language, religion, and to some extent in 
history — also how nearly matched they are in physical and 
mental worth. Curiously enough, there is far greater affinity 
in thought and character between the Scotch and the Dutch 
than between the Dutch and the English. The same thrifti- 
ness, bordering at times on parsimony, oddly combined with 
the largest-hearted hospitality, the same tendency to strike a 



IV.] The Dutch in Africa, 8i 

hard bargain, even to overreach in matters of business, and 
the same dogged perseverance characterize both Dutch and 
Scotch ; while in matters of religion, almost precisely the same 
form of Protestant Christianity appeals to both ; so much so, 
that there is practically a fusion between the Dutch Reformed 
Church and the Presbyterians. Had Scotchmen been sent 
out to administer Cape Colony in its early days, it is probable 
that something like a fusion of races might have taken place, 
and there would have been no Dutch question to cause 
dissension in South African politics in the 19th century. The 
Scotch would have understood the Boer settlers and their 
idiosyncracies, and would not have made fun of them or been 
so deliberately unsympathetic as were some of the earlier 
English governors. Slavery would have been abolished all the 
same, but it would have been abolished more cautiously, in a 
way that would not have left behind the sting of a grievance. 
But after Cape Colony had been definitely ceded to Great 
Britain its governors in the early days were mostly Englishmen, 
who, though often able and just men, were at little pains to 
understand the peculiarities of the Boer character, and to 
conciliate these suspicious, uneducated farmers. Another 
source of trouble was the influx of British missionaries, who 
found much to condemn in the Dutch treatment of the 
natives, which resembled that in vogue amongst Britons of the 
previous century, before the spirit of philanthropy was abroad. 
Curiously enough, some of these missionaries were Scotchmen, 
though belonging to Protestant sects of more distinctly 
English character. At any rate, the missionaries no doubt 
had so much right on their side in condemning the Boers 
for their conduct towards the natives, that their feelings in 
this respect overcame their national affinity for the Dutch. 
The Boer settler at no time showed that fiendish cruelty to the 
natives he was dispossessing which was so terribly character- 
istic of the Spanish colonization of Mexico, or of some of the 
English, French, and Portuguese adventurers on the West 

J. A. 6 



82 The Colonization of Africa, [Chap. 

coast of Africa in the 17 th century ; but he was determined to 
make of the native a serf, and denied him the rights of a man 
like unto himself. If the native revolted against this treat- 
ment he was exterminated in a business-like fashion ; but if he 
submitted, as did most of the Hottentots, he was treated with 
patriarchal kindness and leniency. The Dutch settlers appear 
from the first to have dissociated their deahngs with the 
Hottentots from their ordinary code of morals. It was not 
thought dishonest to cheat them, not thought illegal to rob 
them, not thought immoral to use their women as concubines. 
So entirely without scruples were the Dutch on this last point, 
that whole races arose, and have since become nations likely 
to survive and prosper, whose origin was the illicit union of 
Dutch men and Hottentot women. These "bastards," as 
they were frankly called, were well treated by the Dutch — they 
were not disowned, were usually converted to Christianity, 
taught to lead a more or less civilized life, and to talk the 
Dutch language, which they speak in a corrupt form at the 
present day. In short, the morals of the South African Dutch 
were the morals of the Old Testament, as were those of 
Cromweirs soldiers, and in this and many other modes of 
thought the Dutch Afrikanders lived still in the 17th century, 
whereas the British missionaries were of the early 19th, in the 
red-hot glow of its as yet disillusioned, and somewhat frothy 
philanthropy. The Dutch settlers were denounced at Exeter 
Hall and on every missionary platform, and the fact that many 
of the accusations were true in great measure did not make 
them more palatable to the accused. 

As the Government policy at the Cape was for the first 
half of the century greatly influenced by Exeter Hall, the 
Dutch with some justice regarded the attacks of the mis- 
sionaries as the result of a British Government, and hence 
withdrew from or rebelled against our rule. The dissentient, 
dissatisfied Boers began to trek away from the settled portion 
of Cape Colony into the wilderness behind, where they might 



IV.] The Dutch in Africa, 83 

still lead the pleasant, unfettered, patriarchal life they had 
grown to love. T hey passed bevo nd the Orange River, which 
had come to be the northern limit of British influence, and, 
avoiding the deserts of Bechuanaland, passed north-eastwards 
into the better-watered territories now known as the Orange 
Free State and the Transvaal. They also sought a "way" 
towards' the sea in what is now the colony of Natal. Here 
they came into conflict first with the Kaffirs and Basuto on 
the West, and then with the Zulus on the East. The former 
were to some extent under British protection, therefore the 
British Government was ready to espouse their cause if they 
were unjustly dealt with. The Zulus, on the other hand, were 
strong enough and numerous enough to prevent a Boer settle- 
ment on their land. Nevertheless, the Boer invasion of Natal 
from the north was at that time a transgression into territory 
recently conquered and depopulated by one of the most 
abominable shedders of blood that ever arose amongst Negro 
tyrants — Chaka, the second^ king of the Zulus. This latter 
saw the danger, and lured the pioneers of the Boers into a 
position where he was able to massacre them at his ease. 
With splendid gallantry — one's blood tingles with admiration 
as one reads the record of it — the few remaining Boers 
mustered their forces and avenged this dastardly murder by a 
drastic defeat of the Zulus. But this was in the early " forties," 
when British adventurers — more or less discouraged or unen- 
couraged by the Home Government — had founded a coast 
settlement in Natal, on the site of what is now the town of 
Durban. The usual shilly-shally on the part of the British 
Government misled the Boers into thinking that they could 

^ If Dingiswayo, his master, can be regarded as the first. Dingiswayo 
was rather the paramount chief of a Kaffir confederation, of which the 
Zulu tribe was a member. Chaka was the younger son of the Zulu chief, 
but was eventually elected chief in his father's place and then succeeded to 
the paramount sway of Dingiswayo. Racially and linguistically there is 
very little difference between Zulus and Kaffirs. 

6—2 



84 The Colonization of Africa. [Chap. 

maintain themselves in Natal against our wishes. As they had 
further broken an agreement with us by attacking the Basuto 
and the Kaffirs, a British force was despatched against them in 
1842 which, after a brief struggle, induced them to capitulate. 
Natal was then secured as a British colony^ and the Bo ers with 
bitter disappointment hacTlb-seek their independent ^tate to 
the north of the Orange River. But here also they were 
followed up, and had the Governor of the Cape — Sir George 
Grey — been supported from Downing Street, the Orange River 
sovereignty would never have become the Orange Free State, 
id it is probable that even the territory beyond the Vaal 
Liver might in like manner have been subjected to British 
^ntrol. 
But Downing Street for eighty years from the cession of 
the Cape of Good Hope persistently mismanaged affairs, now 
blowing hot with undue heat, now blowing cold, and nipping 
wise enterprise in the bud. The action of the Governor was 
repudiated, and the Sand River Convention unratified. In the 
most formal manner the Boers north of the Orange River 
were accorded absolute independence, subject to certain pro- 
visions about slavery, and the like privilege had been previously 
accorded to those who had further trekked across the Vaal 
River at a time when the Orange River state was likely to 
become a British Colony. So from 1852 and 1854 respectively*, 
the South African Dutch have formed two states entirely inde- 
pendent of British rule in their internal affairs, and but 
dubiously governed by us in their external relations. The 
Orange Free State, which contained a considerable British 
element dating from the period of British sovereignty, has had 

^ The Sand River Convention, recognizing the independence of the 
Transvaal, was signed in January, 1852; the Bloemfontein Convention, 
which loosed the Orange Free State from British control, was signed in 
February, 1854. In 1858, Sir George Grey laid before the Cape Parlia- 
ment proposals from the Orange Free State for reunion in a South African 
Federation, and was recalled by the Home Government for advocating 
this policy. 



IV.] The Dutch in Africa. 85 

latterly an uneventful career of steady prosperity*, due in 
large measure to the wisdom of its chief magistrates. When 
the diamond fields were discovered on its borders towards the 
end of the " sixties " it had some cause for complaint against 
the British Government, since, taking advantage of the un- 
defined rights of a Griqua (Bastard Hottentot) chief, we 
extended our rule over this arid territory north of the Orange 
River, which was suddenly found to be worth untold millions 
of pounds. But the amount of territory under dispute with the 
Orange Free State was relatively small, and if we had trans- 
gressed their rightful borderland to some slight degree, we 
atoned for it by paying them an indemnity of ;^90,ooo. 
Great Britain also intervened several times to prevent the 
warlike Basuto (who dwell in that little African Switzerland be- 
tween the Orange Free State and Natal) either from raiding 
the Orange Free State, or from being themselves raided and 
conquered by Boer reprisals. Eventually Basutoland, whose 
affairs had been somewhat mismanaged by the Cape Parlia- 
ment, was taken under direct imperial control, and ever since 
there has been a complete cessation of trouble in that quarter 
with the Orange Free State. 

The career of the Transvaal Republic was much less 
successful in its early days. The tenitory was vaster, in many 
places not so healthy, and the native population — especially in 
the eastern districts^ — was turbulent, and strongly averse to 
accepting Boer rule. The existence of gold, though occasion- 
ally hinted at by unheard pioneers, was unknown to the world 
at large, and absolutely ignored by the Boers ; there was little 
or no trade, and the European population was scanty. By 
1877 the condition of this state had become so hopeless with a 
bankrupt treasury and the menace of a Zulu invasion, that it 

^ For the first few years of its existence it had much fighting with the 
Basuto. 

^ Zulus and Kaffirs under Msilikazi in the east ; Bechuana tribes in the 
west. 



86 The Colonization of Africa. [Chap. 

was annexed, somewhat abruptly, by the Imperial represen- 
tative, Sir Theophilus Shepstone. No doubt this step was 
consonant with the enlightened policy then favoured by the 
Imperial Government and subsequently by that far-sighted man, 
Sir Bartle Frere, who was to become Governor of the Cape 
during the latter part of the late Earl Carnarvon's tenancy of 
the Colonial Office. Lord Carnarvon himself was resolutely 
intent on carrying out in Africa south of the Zambezi a scheme 
of federation similar to that which had in 1866 consolidated 
the Dominion of Canada. But the actual method by which the 
Transvaal was taken over was not a well considered one, and 
unhappily it was followed by the appointment of an officer to 
rule over that country whose demeanour was wholly unsym- 
pathetic to the Boer nature. At the end of 1880 the Boers 
revolted. After a short military campaign, conspicuous for its 
utter lack of generalship on the part of the English, and for 
the disastrous defeats inflicted on our forces by the Boers at 
Lang's Nek and Majuba Hill, the British Government of the 
day (who a few months before had absolutely refused the 
Boers' appeal for the reversal of the annexation) concluded a 
hurried armistice, and gave back (1881) its independence to 
the Transvaal, subject to a vague suzerainty on the part of 
the British Crown, and later on to a British veto which might 
be exercised on treaties with foreign powers. The best plea 
that can be urged on behalf of this surrender, which sub- 
sequent British Governments have had such cause to regret, 
was the belief that a stern prosecution of the war, and 
the eventual Boer defeat, would lead to the uprising of the 
Dutch settlers in Cape Colony and the intervention of the 
Orange Free State. It is doubtful whether there was much 
foundation for this fear, or whether it would not have been 
much easier at that time to settle British supremacy once and 
for all over all Africa south of the Zambezi, even if it led to 
some degree of internecine fighting: the more so as there 
would have been no danger of European intervention at that 



IV.] The Dutch in Africa, %^ 

date. But thechance_was let slip, and the Boers acquired an 
independence the more justly won, and the less easily dis- 
turbed since it was the result of their sturdy valour. 

The restraining conditions of the 1881 Convention were 
still further attenuated by the London Convention of February 
27, 1884, in which with further fatuity the Government of the 
day accorded unnecessarily to the Transvaal state the extrava- 
gant title of '' The South African Republic." Perhaps this is 
the most remarkable act of abnegation which has ever occurred 
in the history of the British Empire, and it must have 
seemed to the inhabitants of British South Africa like the 
admission of a rival ruling power into the British sphere south 
of the Zambezi. By this 1884 Convention (worthless for that 
purpose, as are all treaties and conventions when the force to 
maintain them is not apparent) the geographical limits of the 
Transvaal state were clearly defined, and the Boers engaged to 
keep within them. 

Encouraged by this diplomatic success, and the feeble 
manner in which the Imperial Government had permitted 
them to carve out a fresh state in the heart of Zululand, the 
Boers of the Transvaal now determined to add Bechuanaland 
to their dominions, and possibly to cut off British expansion to 
the Zambezi, and to make their western frontier coincident with 
the natural limits of that Protectorate which Germany had just 
established, north of the Orange River. But public opinion in 
Great Britain was becoming intolerant of any further sacrifices 
of British aspirations in South Africa, and of breaches of faith 
on the part of the Boers, and forced the Government of the 
day to assert itself. A strong expedition was sent out under 
Sir Charles Warren at the end of 1884, which finally secured 
for Great Britain the Protectorate of Bechuanaland, and the 
restraining of the Transvaal within its proper limits. Never- 
theless, in 1894 a fresh concession was made to that state by 
the withdrawal of British opposition to its absorption of a little 
enclave of Zulu country known as Swaziland. In excuse for 



MWi^WnHH 



88 The Colonization of Africa. [Chap. 

the British (Government it must be pointed out that the Swazi 
chiefs had previously made over to Transvaal subjects so many 
rights and concessions that any other solution than the further 
cession of the administration was rendered difficult under the 
existing conditions. 

Soon after the conclusion of the London Convention of 
1884, the vast wealth in gold, which for more than ten years 
back had been hinted at by uneducated pioneers, and denied 
by mining experts*, began to be made known; the develop- 
ment of the marvellous Witwatersrand brought about the 
foundation of Johannesburg, and directed to the Transvaal an 
enormous influx of outsiders, mainly English — at any rate, 
mainly British subjects, though many of them were Jews from 
England, or from P>ance and Germany who had become 
naturalized British subjects. Mines were also opened in the 
east and in the north of the Transvaal On the other hand, 
to counteract the influence of this British element, the Trans- 
vaal Government had almost ever since its establishment in 
1881 been strengthening the Dutch element by inviting the 
settlement of Hollanders from the Netherlands, who were 
employed in its Government offices, in its schools, its churches, 
and on the construction of its railways. These natives of 
Holland showed themselves very hostile to British influence, 
and through their efforts a great deal of sympathy with the 
South African Dutch was aroused in Holland and Germany. 
On the other hand, the Outlanders, who settled round 
Johannesburg and other mining centres and who soon came 
to outnumber the Boer element in the Transvaal population to 
the extent of five to one, became dissatisfied with their position 
under the Boer Government, who ruled them autocratically, 
without giving them any voice in the administration or in the 
spending of the heavy taxes levied on their industries. (It 
should be noted that the Boer Government had attempted to 

1 About as trustworthy guides in mineralogy as experts in handwriting ! 



IV.] The Dutch in Africa, 89 

wall itself in from contact with the surrounding British and 
Portuguese states by an exceedingly high tariff of import 
duties, which rendered many articles of necessity or luxury 
extremely expensive, and made civilized life five times as dear 
as in the adjoining Cape Colony.) It was again the contact 
between the very end of the 19th century and the manners, 
customs, language, and puritanical religion of the 17th century. 
To some extent this recalcitrant attitude of the Boers was 
condemned and deprecated by their much more enlightened 
brethren, the Cape Dutch. In time, probably, these latter 
might have encouraged and supported the intervention of the 
Imperial Government in securing fair terms to the Outlanders, 
and as these fair terms must have given the Outlanders a 
preponderating voice in the Government, the Transvaal might 
have been brought within the South African Federation under 
the British aegis. But the Right Hon. Cecil John Rhodes, 
then Prime Minister of the Cape and Managing Director of 
the British South Africa Chartered Company, saw in this dis- 
content at Johannesburg the means and excuse for his personal 
intervention in the Transvaal. He hurried on the movement, 
and even carried it beyond the limits indicated by the more 
disinterested Reformers. The administrator of the Chartered 
Company's territories, Dr Jameson, invaded the Transvaal 
(Dec. 29, 1895) with a small force of between 500 and 600 
mounted police, and endeavoured to reach Johannesburg, the 
centre of unrest, with a half-avowed intention of subsequently 
marching on Pretoria, and upsetting the Boer Government. 
But the Boer forces intercepted Dr Jameson before he could 
reach Johannesburg, and after an engagement in which a few of 
his men were killed, and after which further progress would have 
meant annihilation, he surrendered. The High Commissioner 
of South Africa hurried to Johannesburg ; Dr Jameson and his 
officers were handed over to the British Government to be 
dealt with, and afterwards underwent a short term of imprison- 
ment On the other hand, the Reformers of Johannesburg 



90 The Colonization of Africa. [Chap. iv. 

were treated by the Pretoria Courts with inexcusable harsh- 
ness, seeing that they had not taken an active part in 
Dr Jameson's inroad, and had surrendered their city to the 
Boer Government. Enormous fines, amounting eventually to 
nearly half a million sterling, were inflicted on them, after a 
somewhat burlesque trial in which they had been condemned 
to death, only to be subsequently imprisoned or expelled. 
For the time being this wanton aggression -on the part of 
Mr Rhodes alienated all sympathy for the grievances of the 
Outlanders, and provoked strong expressions of opinion in 
certain European states, who, until they were assured that the 
British Government was dissociated with Mr Rhodes' scheme, 
were not unnaturally prone to imagine that their own territories 
in Africa might some day be exposed to a British raid. The 
immediate outcome, therefore, of this ill-advised action on the 
part of the Cape Premier (though that official was admittedly 
actuated by the same desire which has inspired some British 
statesmen, to bring about the Britannicizing of all Africa south 
of the Zambezi) was the strengthening and intensifying of the 
separatist character of the two Dutch republics still existing in 
South Africa. Whether the power gained by these indepen- 
dent Dutch states will be wisely used, or whether they will 
overreach their strength and misuse their influence, and so 
draw down on them their eventual absorption within the 
adjoining British Empire, remains to be seen. These brave, 
sturdy Dutchmen have played a great part in Africa, a part of 
which their mother country, Holland, may well be proud. 
They are so ne_arly o f_Qur ownjlo^dl and tongue, and history, 
that we may, without any more sting of bitterness than that 
with which we recall the revolt of the American Colonies, take 
pride in their achievements and smile grimly at the stout blows 
they have dealt us in their own defence. 

^ For if we are Celts and Teutons dashed with French, so are these 
descendants of the old Frisians and Batavians, mingled as they are with 
Huguenot emigrants. 



Tilt rtJ linti iti&ali Ikt priHcifat nmta a/M< i 



:alt Ikt frincital nmlri o/lkt i 
w and Ikt JfSlinatian ^tk$ tiat 



CHAPTER V. 



THE SLAVE TRADE. 



Man had not long emerged from the monkey before he 
conceived the idea of enslaving instead of or as well as eating 
his enemies or his inferiors. Slavery and the slave trade, 
however — mere servitude — ^need not excite great horror or pity 
when it occurs among people of the same race or the same 
religion, or in countries which are not far from the home of 
the enslaved. It is where the state of servitude exists between 
widely divergent races that it gives rise to abuses, which are 
obvious even to those who are not sensitive philanthropists. 

The Negro, more than any other human type, has been 
marked out by his mental and physical characteristics as the 
servant of other races. There are, of course, exceptions to the 
general rule. There are tribes like the Kruboys of the West 
African coast, the Mandingo, the Wolof, and the Zulu, who 
have always shown themselves so recalcitrant to slavery that 
they have generally been let alone ; while the least divergence 
from the Negro stock in an upward direction — such as in the 
case of the Gallas and Somalis — appears to produce a resolute 
attachment to freedom. 'But the negro in general is a bom 
slave. He is possessed of great physical strength, docility, 
cheerfulness of disposition, a short memory for sorrows and 
cruelties, and an easily aroused gratitude for kindness and just 
dealing. He does not suffer from home-sickness to the over- 
bearing extent that afflicts other peoples torn from their homes, 
and, provided he is well fed, he is easily made happy. Above 
all, he can toil hard under the hot sun and in the unhealthy 



92 The Colonization of Africa, [Chap. 

climates of the torrid zone. He has little or no race-fellow- 
ships — that is to say, he has no sympathy for other negroes ; 
he recognizes and follows his master independent of any race 
affinities, and, as he is usually a strong man and a good fighter, 
he has come into request not only as a labourer but as a 
soldier. 

Negro slaves were imported into Lower Egypt as servants. 
A few may have reached Carthage and Rome ; but the deter- 
mined exploitation of the black races did not begin on a large 
scale till the Muhammadan conquest of Africa. The Arabs 
had swept across Northern Africa, and become directly ac- 
quainted with the Sudan \ Before the promulgation of Islam 
they traded with the East coast of Africa, and after the Islamic 
outburst they ruled there as sultans. The secluding of women 
in harems guarded by eunuchs had come into vogue during the 
Byzantine Empire, but it was probably a custom of Indian 
origin. It was adopted with emphasis among the civilized 
Mussulmans, and the Negro eunuch proved the most efficient 
and faithful guardian of the gynaeceum. So the slave trade 
developed mightily in the Muhammadan world. Household 
slaves and eunuchs were imported into North Africa, Arabia, 
Turkey, and Persia from the Sudan ; while in a later century 
the Sultan of Morocco established his power firmly by import- 
ing fighting negroes from Nigeria. Arabia, Persia, and India 
obtained negroes from the Egyptian Sudan, Abyssinia, and the 
Zanzibar coast Into the West coast of India negro slaves were 
imported from East Africa to become the guards of palaces 
and the fighting seamen of navies. In the Bombay Presidency 
these negroes became so useful or powerful that they carved 
out states for themselves, one or more of which, still ruled by 
negro princes, are in existence at the present day as de- 
pendencies of the Government of India'. 

^ Sudan means in Arabic " Black men " or the ** LAnd of the Blacks." 
' As for example, Janjira in Konkan, which has an area of 315 sq. m., 
and Jafarabad in Kathiawar \i sq. m. in extent. 



v.] The Slave Trade, 93 

The final impetus was given to this traffic by the European. 
When the Spanish, Portuguese and English discovered and 
settled America they found the native races too small in 
numbers, too fierce, or too weakly to be suited for agricultural 
work, and as early as 1503 African slaves were working in the 
mines of San Domingo, of Mexico, and even of Peru, brought 
thither by the Spaniards and Portuguese. In 15 17 the slave 
trade between Africa and America was regularly established, 
Charles V of Spain having granted to a Flemish merchant the 
exclusive privilege of importing into America 4000 slaves a 
year. This monopoly was subsequently sold by the conces- 
sionaire to a company of Genoese merchants. 

English adventurers, who had first found their way out in 
Portuguese ships to investigate the spice trade, soon deter- 
mined to take up the traffic in negro labourers for the planta- 
tions in America as being more profitable. Sir John Hawkins, 
one of the famous seamen of the Elizabethan era, in 1562 
took over to the West Indies the first cargo of slaves trans- . 
ported under the British flag; but Sir John Hawkins, who 
afterwards adopted a " demi-Moor in his proper colour, bound 
with a cord" as his crest, only made, I believe, one direct 
voyage to the coast of Guinea on his own account, and usually 
shipped his slaves at the Canary Islands, acting thus as a 
transport agent for the Spaniards. England had not been 
engaged largely in the slave trade until she commenced to 
possess Jamaica and other West Indian islands, and to 
develop tiie tobacco plantations of Virginia. Then she almost 
outdid rival nations. The late Dr Robert Brown, in his 
interesting work, "The Story of Africa," computes that in a 
little more than a century, from 1680 to 1786, 2,130,000 negro 
slaves were imported into the English-American colonies, 
Jamaica in the course of 80 years absorbing 610,000. To- 
wards the latter end of the i8th century the various European 
powers interested in America imported on an average over 



94 The Colonization of Africa. [Chap. 

70,000 slaves a year, the British bringing more than one half, 
and sometimes a still greater proportion. At first the slaves 
came chiefly from the Gambia and the other rivers southward 
to Sierra Leone, and also from the Congo and the Portuguese 
possessions of Angola and the Zambezi. Then, as the demand 
grew, a rich field was tapped in the Bights of Biafra and Benin, 
especially in that network of swampy rivers, which, unknown 
to Europeans of those days, is the delta of the Niger river. 
But slowly there grew up in England and in the Scandinavian 
States a feeling that there was something wrong in this system 
which imposed so much misery on beings, who, though in 
some degree inferior to ourselves, were yet our fellow-men, 
since they could interbreed with us and learn to talk our 
language. That such feelings must have existed at all times 
was evident from the desire of good men when dying to grant 
freedom to their slaves. But the feeling as a national one 
remained dormant, and was not general in England until the 
close of the i8th century. Here and there cases of a negro 
prince being sold into slavery attracted attention and S3rmpathy 
and caused a searching of consciences among enlightened men. 
In 1772 a great-minded Englishman, Granville Sharp, succeed- 
ed by pushing a test case in getting a judicial decision that 
slavery could not exist in England, and that therefore any 
slave landing in England became free, and could not be taken 
back into slavery. In 1787 Wilberforce, Clarkson, and other 
philanthropists formed themselves into an association to secure 
the abolition of slavery, and by their exertions in Great Britain 
a bill was passed in 1 788 which did not go to the lengths they 
desired, but which subjected the slave trade to severe restric- 
tions. Yet it is doubtful whether, before this act was passed, 
the hardships of the slaves transported by sea were so terrible 
as they became after the restrictions placed on the trade 
rendered it necessary to carry large numbers of human beings 
on a single voyage more or less concealed from sight in the 



v.] The Slave Trade. 95 

hold of the vessel with an utter disregard for sanitary con- 
ditions ^. In these later days, when it was necessary to evade 
tiresome regulations or to carry on the trade in the face of 
direct prohibition, the sufferings of the slaves were so appalling 
that they almost transcend belief. It would seem as though 

^ the inhuman traffic had created in Arabs and negroes and 
white men a deliberate love of cruelty, amounting often to a 
neglect of commercial interest; for at first sight it would 
appear obviously to be to the interest of the slave raider and 
the slave trader and transporter that the slaves should be 
landed at their ultimate destination in good condition — cer- 
tainly with the least possible loss of life. Yet, as the present 

^ writer can testify from what he has himself seen, a slave gang 
on its march to the coast was loaded with unnecessarily heavy 
collars or slave-sticks, with chains and irons that chafed and 
cut into the flesh, and caused virulent ulcers. They were half 
starved, over-driven, and insufficiently provided with drinking 
water, and recklessly exposed to death from sunstroke. .-If 
they threw themselves down for a brief rest or collapsed from 
exhaustion they were shot or speared or had their throats cut 

t with fiendish brutality. I have seen at Taveita (now a civilized 
settlement in British East Africa) boys and youths left in the 
bush to die by degrees from mortification and protrusion of 

t the intestines owing to the unskilful way in which they had 
been castrated by the Arabs, who had attempted to make 
eunuchs of them for sale to Turkish and Arab harems. 

i> Children whom their mothers could not carry, and who 
could not keep up with the caravan, had their brains dashed 
out Many slaves (I again write from personal knowledge) 

^ It was asserted by Winwood Reade, however, who no doubt derived 
his statement from good authority, that the close con6nement of the slaves 
on board the tiny vessels of the 16th century adventurers, developed and 
^ introduced into tropical America that dread disease, the yellow fever — 
a malady which appears to be a variant of the haematuric bilious fever 
indigenous to Africa. 



96 The Colonization of Africa, [Chap. 

committed suicide because they could not bear to be separated 
from their homes and children. They were branded and 
flogged, and, needless to say, received not the slightest 
medical treatment for the injuries resulting from this rough 
usage. So much for the overland journey which brought them 
to the depot or factory of the European slave trader on the 
coast ; then began the horrors of the sea passage, the descrip- 
tion of which, it must be admitted, refers almost entirely to the 
ships of civilized nations, like the English, Dutch, Spanish, 
Portuguese, and Americans, and not to the Arabs and Indians, 
who carried slaves across from the East coast of Africa to 
Arabia or India. In the latter case the sailing vessels were 
not often overcrowded, and the slaves were allowed a fair 
degree of liberty. In the slave trade with America, especially 
when it was placed under restrictions and finally penalized, it 
was the aim of the masters to pack as many slaves as possible 
on board the vessel, the peril of making one run being only 
half of what was entailed in making two. Very often the 
slaves were sent on board stark naked. They were packed 
like herrings in the hold or on the middle deck, and in times 
of bad weather, or for reasons of security, were often kept 
under hatches. The stench they produced then was appalling, 
and many died asphyxiated. On some ships, and where the 
captain was a humane man, the slaves were occasionally 
allowed to go on deck, and were watered with a hose, and 
where the skipper^s commission made it profitable to him to 
land the slaves in good condition, they received better food, 
and occasional luxuries like tobacco; but if the slaver were 
chased by a British cruiser, no scruple was shown in throwing 
the slaves overboard to drown. 

Denmark has the credit of being the first European power 
to forbid the slave trade to her subjects (1792). Two years 
later the United States of America forbade their subjects to 
** participate in the exportation of negroes to foreign coun- 
tries," and in 1804 an act (first promulgated in 1794) was 



v.] The Slave Trade. 97 

revived, which prohibited the introduction of any more slaves 
into the United States. A long struggle had taken place in 
Great Britain (many of whose Liverpool and Bristol merchants 
were deeply interested in the slave trade) before, in 1807, an act 
of Parliament was passed abolishing the slave trade as far as 
British subjects were concerned. At the Congress of Vienna, 
1 814, France agreed in principle that the slave trade should be 
done away with, and even signed a treaty providing that whilst 
the slave trade continued with French colonies it should only 
be carried on by French subjects. During Napoleon's hundred 
days of rule in 18 15 a decree was issued ending the slave trade 
for good and all. In the same year Portugal subjected the 
slave trade to certain restrictions, but did not finally abolish 
it till 1830. In 1836 England paid Portugal the sum of 
^300,000 in order to get the export of slaves from any 
Portuguese possession prohibited. Great Britain had also in 
1820 paid ;£4oo,ooo to Spain to purchase a promise from the 
Spaniards that they would cease to buy negroes in Africa. 
Both contracts, though ostensibly agreed to by the Govern- 
ments concerned, were frequently violated by individuals. In 
1814 and 1815 the Dutch and Swedes respectively prohibited 
the slave trade to their subjects, and a few years later most of 
the Spanish South American states abolished the slave trade 
on attaining their independence. Slavery was abolished as a 
legal condition in all parts of the British dominions in the 
*3o's' — ^in Jamaica and the West Indies in 1833, in South 
Africa 183 4- 1840, and in India about the same time^ 
Besides the sums mentioned which England paid to Spain and 
Portugal to induce them to give up the traffic in slaves, she 
distributed twenty millions of pounds amongst slave owners of 
the West Indies as compensation for the abolition of slavery, 
and ;£i, 250,000 to those who possessed slaves in Cape 

^ Natives of British India, however, continued to hold slaves on the 
East coast of Africa until it was made a criminal offence in i873, 

J. A. 7 



98 The Colonization of Africa, [Chap. 

Colony when they were emancipated Add to these sums the 
millions of money we have spent in founding Sierra Leone as a 
slave settlement, in helping Liberia* (from the same motive), 
in patrolling the East and West coasts of Africa and the 
Persian Gulf, and it will be admitted that we have here a 
rare case of a nation doing penance for its sins, and making 
that real reparation which is evidenced by a monetary sacri- 
fice. 

In 1840 and in previous years the French had abolished 
slavery in all their possessions, the Dutch a little later, 
and later still most of the South American states; but in 
the Portuguese possessions slavery was not abolished till 
1878 and in the United States of America till 1863, while 
Brazil remained a slave-holding country until 1888, the final 
and somewhat abrupt abolition of slavery being one of the 
causes which led to the downfall of the Emperor. However, 
long after any British or French possession had ceased to 
offer inducements to the slave trader to run illegal cargoes 
there were quite sufficient countries in the Western Hemisphere 
to provide an excellent market, while the Muhammadan world 
in the East continued to make greater demands than ever on 
the Central African slave preserves*. 

To counteract the attempts to evade the law a powerful 
British squadron swept the West coast of Africa ; but in spite of 
British efforts to intercept slave-trading vessels, these latter 
continued to run cargoes across 'to the United States, Cuba 
and Brazil, and it was not possible for this traffic to be wholly 

^ Liberia commenced with an attempt made by philanthropic Americans 
(the Washington Colonization Society) in 1820 to repatriate free negroes 
from the United States. It was formaUy recognized as an independent, 
state under joint British and United States protection in 1847. 

' Slavery was abolished in the Turkish dominions afler the Crimean 
War, but exists still to some degree on account of the harems, which 
demand a supply of eunuchs. Slavery also continues to be in force in the 
independent states of Arabia, and in the Persian dominions. 



v.] The Slave Trade. 



99 



vanquished until the abolition of slavery in those countries 
closed the last markets to the slave trader. A most interesting 
light is thrown on the vastness of the area covered by these 
slave-trading operations in a work by the Rev. S. W. Koelle (a 
missionary of the Church Missionary Society) entitled " Poly- 
glotta Africana/' Mr Koelle established himself at Sierra 
Leone for some years and busied himself in collecting from the 
slaves who were landed there from British cruisers vocabularies 
of the languages they spoke in their own homes. In this way 
he took down over 200 languages, which represented most of 
the tongues of the West coast of Africa, of the upper Niger, of 
Senegal, of Lake Chad, the South-west African coast as far as 
Benguela, Nyasaland, the Zambezi delta and the South-east 
coast of Africa, and even Wadai. 

When, at the close of the i8th century, British philan- 
thropists were desirous of repatriating negroes who wished to 
return to Africa, the Sierra Leone Company was started, 
which purchased from native chiefs the nucleus of the present 
colony of Sierra Leone. Here, for three-quarters of a century, 
British cruisers landed and set free the slaves that were 
captured off the West coast of Africa. Zanzibar, on the 
other side of the continent, became about twenty years ago 
the eastern analogue of Sierra Leone. Since the British 
occupation of Egypt slavery has practically ceased to exist in 
that country ; and owing to the French occupation of Algeria 
and Tunis, and the influence brought to bear by England on 
Turkey in regard to Tripoli, there is not much traffic in slaves 
across the Sahara Desert to those countries ; though anybody 
visiting the south of Tunis will be surprised at the large 
number of negroes in all the villages, showing that quite 
recently constant supplies must have been received from Bornu 
and the Hausa states. The shocking slave raids of the 
Matabele Zulus have been abolished by the British South Africa 
Company, and similar raids of the Angoni have been put an 
end to by the Imperial Government in British Central Africa. 

7— a 



■» - - - i ^ J ^/ ' 



100 The Colonization of Africa. [Chap. 

The Arabs of 2^nzibax had acquired an evil fame for their 
gigantic slave raids, in East-central Africa. The British 
Government, which had separated 2^nzibar from Maskat as an 
independent state in 1862, began to concern itself a few years 
later with the slave trade which flourished in those dominions. 
By 1873 the Sultan of Zanzibar had, after considerable pres- 
sure, been induced to make the slave trade illegal in his 
Sultanate, though it continued to flourish in an illegal manner 
until the administration of his territories by England and 
Germany. 

Arabs from *Oman in South-west Arabia and from Zanzibar 
pushed ever further and further into Central Africa from the 
East coast until they reached the Upper Congo, where they 
established themselves as sultans amongst the negroes, and 
enslaved millions. Here and there they Muhammadanized a 
tribe like the Wa-yao, Manyema, or Awemba, whom they 
provided with muskets and made worse slave raiders than 
themselves. These slave raids in the districts of Lakes Nyasa 
and Tanganyika, revealed to the world by Livingstone, greatly 
concentrated the attention of Great Britain on these regions, 
and one of the intentions of the British Government in estab- 
lishing a protectorate in South-central Africa was the abolition 
of the slave trade, which was brought about by six years' 
campaigns with a tiny force of Indian soldiers^, and the placing 
of several gunboats on Lake Nyasa. At the same time the 
Belgian officers of the Congo Free State had attacked and 
broken up the Arabs, who were expelled from the Congo. 
The Germans under the brilliant Major Von Wissmann had 
hung several Arab slave raiders in East-central Africa, and had 
completely broken up the traffic of the others. In short, 
though slavery still exists, avowed or disguised, in many parts 
of Africa, the slave trade is almost at an end, and slave raids 

^ Sikhs from the Indian Army. I have fully described these campaigns 
in my work on British Central Africa. 









« 



v.] The Slave Trade, lOi 

are confined to those regions in North-central Afirica, which 
are for a few years yet to come wholly free from European 
intervention. 

Abominable as the slave trade has been in filling Tropical 
Africa with incessant warfare and rapine, it has added much 
to our knowledge of that continent, and has been the excuse 
or cause of European intervention in many cases, resulting 
sometimes in a vastly improved condition of the natives when 
European rule has taken the place of that of Negro or Arab 
sultans. Its ravages will be soon repaired by a decade of 
peace and security during which this prolific, unextinguishable 
race will rapidly increase its numbers. ^Yet about the African 
slave trade, as with most other instinctive human procedure, 
and the movements of one race against another, there is an 
underlying sense of justice. The White and Yellow peoples 
have been the unconscious agents of the Power behind Nature 
in punishing the negro for his lazy backwardness. In this 
world Natural Law ordains that all mankind must work to a 
reasonable extent, must wrest from its environment sustenance 
for body and mind, and a bit over to start the children from a 
higher level than the parents. The races that will not work 
persistently and doggedly are trampled on, and in time dis- 
placed, by those who do. I Let the Negro take this to heart; 
let him devote his fine muscular development in the first place 
to the setting of his own rank, untidy continent in order. If 
he will not work of his own free will, now that freedom of 
action is temporarily restored to him ; if he will not till and 
manure and drain and irrigate the soil of his country in a 
steady, laborious way as do the Oriental and the European; 
if he will not apply himself zealously under European tuition 
to the development of the vast resources of Tropical Africa, 
where hitherto he has led the wasteful unproductive life of a 
baboon; then force of circumstances, the pressure of eager, 
hungry, impatient outside humanity, the converging energies 
of Europe and Asia will once more relegate the Negro to a 



102 The Colonization of Africa, [Chap. v. 

servitude which will be the alternative — in the coming struggle 
for existence — to extinction. The Negro has been given back 
his freedom that he may use it with a man's sense of respon- 
sibility for the waste of time and opportunities; not that he 
may squander away his existence with the heedlessness of those 
anthropoid apes to whom in a minute fractional proportion he 
is more nearly allied than are we, his present guardians. 



CHAPTER VI. 

THE BRITISH IN AFRICA, I. 

{West Coast, Morocco, North-Central^ 

\/^ From very early days in the history of the Portuguese 
monarchy close and friendly relations had been established 
between England and Portugal A large body of English 
troops on their way out to the Crusades had assisted the first 
king of Portugal to capture Lisbon from the Moors in the 12th 
century. A later king of Portugal married a daughter of John 
of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster, and his sons, among them the 
^ great Prince Henry the Navigator, were half English in blood. 

These friendly relations were no doubt partly to be accounted 
for by the French origin of both ruling houses. 

Therefore, when the effect began to be felt in England of 
Portuguese discoveries in West Africa by the extension of the 
spice trade (hitherto a monopoly of Venice), and the dawning 
idea that negro slaves from Africa would be an excellent com- 
modity for American plantations, British seamen-adventurers 
were prompt to follow in the path of the Portuguese. Curiously 
enough, the trade in spices seems to have been the first 
inducement, more powerful than gold or slaves. Englishmen 
had previously shipped on board Portuguese vessels before they 
ventured to sail to West Africa in craft of their own. Quite 
early in the i6th century several Englishmen thus found their 
way to Benin in company with the Portuguese. But their 



K/ 



L 



^ 



104 ^^ Colonization of Africa. [Chap. 

proceedings were looked upon with suspicion, and friendly 
relations between the two nationalities soon cooled under the 
influence of rivalry in what the Portuguese would have liked to 
make their monopoly of West African trade. At the end 
of the reign of Edward VI (1553), and during that of Mary, 
English ships ventured out timidly to the Gambia, the Grain 
Coast, and even the Gold Coast of West Africa, bringing back 
gold, ivory, Guinea pepper* and "grains of Paradise'" for 
spice making. At first these ventures were rendered very 
hazardous by the hostility of the Portuguese ; but when, in the 
latter part of the i6th century, Portugal was absorbed by Spain 
and Spain went to war with England, Queen Elizabeth had no 
hesitation in granting charters to two companies of merchant 
adventurers to trade with the West coast of Africa. In 1585 
the first charter was granted to a body of London adventurers 
for the carrying on of commerce with Morocco and the Barbary 
States; in 1588 another charter was given to Devonshire 
merchants, who had been for some time previously endeavour- 
ing to trade on the Senegambia coast. Thus in 1588 were 
laid the foundations of the British settlement of the Gambia. 
This river, which was at first, and probably more accurately, 
known as the " Gambra," is remarkable among African rivers 
in that it has a mouth with a deep bar, which can be crossed 
at any time of the tide. Next to the Congo, it is probably the 
safest river to enter on all the West African coast ; and as its 
navigability extends for over 200 miles into the interior of 
Senegambia, it is a very valuable means of access to the heart 
of the fertile regions of North-west Africa. When the British 
arrived on the Gambia, and for two centuries afterwards, the 
banks of the river were thickly studded with Portuguese 
trading settlements. Curiously enough, however, the Portu- 
guese never seem to have made any difficulties about its passing 

^ Made from various aromatic seeds. 

' The seeds of the Amcmum^ a zingiberaceous plant, allied to the 
banana. 



> 

I 



VI.] The British in Africa, 10$ 

unda: British control It was the French from Senegal who 
made the most determined attempts to oust the British from 
the Gambia. 

In 1592 Queen Elizabeth chartered a further association 
for trading on the coast between the Gambia and Sierra Leone. 
As regards the subsequent history of the Gambia, it may be 
mentioned that the first consolidated company formed to work 
the trade and administer the British settlements was incorpo- 
rated in 1618, but it was not successful and the association 
following it also failed. In 1664 a fort, subsequently called 
Fort James, was built on the island of St Mary, off the south 
bank of the mouth of the Gambia. This was the nucleus of 
the present capital of Bathurst, named centuries after from the 
same Colonial Secretary whose name was given to the Australian 
town. In the 17th century the French made determined 
attacks on the Gambia, and in 1696 succeeded in destroying 
the British settlement, which however was reoccupied and 
restored four or five years later. During the i8th century the 
Gambia settlement became rich and prosperous owing to the 
slave trade. The Gambia was the starting place of the first 
serious British explorations in Western Africa and Nigeria. 
In 1783 the intermittent struggle with France was concluded 
by the French recognition of exclusive British trading rights on 
the Gambia, with the exception of the French factory at 
Albreda,. in return for a similar concession to themselves 
of the commercial monopoly of the river Senegal; but as a 
set-off against the French factory on the Gambia the British 
retained the exclusive right to trade with the Moors of 
Portendik (near Cape Blanco) for gum. [In 1857 these two 
rights were exchanged.] During the Napoleonic wars England 
seized the French settlements at the mouth of the river 
Senegal, and British merchants went thither to trade. Upon 
the surrender of Senegal to France in 181 7 these merchants 
left the Senegal and founded the town of Bathurst, now the 
capital of the Gambia colony. In 1807, this tiny colony, now 



io6 The Colonization of Africa, [Chap. i 

much impoverished by the abolition of the slave trade, was 
subjected to the newly-founded government of Sierra Leone. j 
In 1843, its prosperity having somewhat revived owing to the 
growing trade in ground-nuts, and its area having been in- 
creased by various additions of territory along the banks of 
the river, it was rendered independent of Sierra Leone; but 
again in 1866 was attached to that colony until once more it 
was given a separate administration in 1888. In the early 
*7o's' attempts had been made to assert British claims 
to the coast separating the Gambia and Sierra Leone, where 
Portuguese rule had lapsed; but Portugal having succeeded in 
asserting her claims (p. 44), the project was dropped, and 
during the period of discouragement which followed France was 
allowed to extend her sway over all the country on either side 
of the lower Gambia. Several times during the present century 
the project was mooted of exchanging the Gambia with France 
first for her possessions on the Gaboon coast, and later on for 
Porto Novo, and Grand Bassam. The first project, which 
would have ultimately given us French Congo, was opposed 
and defeated by the British merchants on the Gambia; and 
the second, which would have eventually led to a continuous 
British coast line from Sierra Leone to the Niger, was upset 
by the opposition of Marseilles trading houses at Porto Novo. 
In 1 89 1 the best was made of a bad position, and a delimita- 
tion agreement was come to with France, which at any rate 
secured to Great Britain both banks of the river Gambia to 
the limits of its navigability. 

The words "Sierra Leone" are a kind of compromise 
between Spanish, Italian and Portuguese due to the dull 
hearing and careless spelling of foreign names so character- 
istic of the English until the present generation. Projecting 
into the sea on this part of the coast (a coast otherwise flat 
and swampy) is a mountainous peninsula with bold hills facing 
the sea front. If these mountains are not sufficiently high to 
be the "Theion Ochema** of the Greek translators of Hanno's 



r 



VI.] The British in Africa. 107 

jouraal, they were at any rate sufficiently striking to make an 
impression on the early Portuguese explorers, who dubbed 
them "Seira Leoa" or '* Mountain Range of the Lioness," 
either because a lioness was killed there, or because the 
outlines of the range recalled the shape of a couchant lioness. 
The Spanish form would be Sierra Lfeona, and it was appar- 
ently the Spanish term that the English navigators adopted. 
The British hung about this coast with ideas of founding 
trading settlements and occasionally shipped slaves thence. 
Towards the end of the i8th century the fine harbour — the 
one good harbour on the West coast of Africa — attracted the 
attention of the British Government, who obtained the cession 
of the Sierra Leone peninsula in 1787. Four years later a 
charter was granted and the territory was transferred to a 
philanthropic association known as the ''St George's Bay 
Company," which decided to establish in that part of West 
Africa a settlement for freed negro slaves from the West Indies 
and Canada. 

Upon the granting of the charter the name was changed to 
the ** Sierra Leone Company." To Sierra Leone were brought 
loyal free negroes, who had fought on the British side during 
the American War of Independence, and were therefore given 
their liberty, but whom it was thought better to deport to a 
climate more suitable to Africans than that of Canada. Then 
were sent out about 400 masterless negroes picked up in 
England after the judicial decision obtained by Granville 
Sharp as to the illegality of slavery in England. These 
were known as the " Granvilles." To them were added the 
** Maroons*" — Jamaica negroes mixed in a slight degree with 
the blood of the extinct West Indian natives, who had taken 
to the bush in Jamaica, and were making themselves trouble- 
some. Further, as soon as Sierra Leone was adopted as the 
dumping ground of the slaves set free from the captured slave- 

* * Maroon ' was a corruption of the Spanish ** Cimarron," an outlaw 
frequenting the summits (Cimas) of the mountains. 



-\ 



1 08 TAe Colonization of Africa. [Chap. j 

trading ships, there were added to these ex-slaves of America 
and England the heterogeneous sweepings of West, Central, { 

and South-east Africa, generally known as "Will)rfoss Niggers," 
because their freedom was originally due to the exertions of 
Mr Wilberforce. Then of course there were the original 
Temne and Mendi inhabitants, so that altc^ether the n^o { 
population of modern Sierra Leone is an extraordinarily mixed 
stock, to which a large colony of Kruboys from the Liberian 
coast has since been added. 

The philanthropic company which started this settlement 
had some quaint notions in its inception. Sixty London 
prostitutes were sent out to Sierra Leone to marry with the 
negroes and become honest women, while numbers of English, 
Dutch, and Swedes were invited to go there as free settlers, 
under the belief that West Africa was as suited for European 
colonization as Cape Colony. The result was of course that 
nearly all these European immigrants died a few years after 
their arrival, though not before they had left their impression 
upon the strangely mixed population of Sierra Leone. 

In 1807 the rule of the colony was transferred to the 
Crown, and in 182 1 Sierra Leone was for the first time joined 
with the Gold Coast and the Gambia into the " Colony of the 
West African Settlements." In 1843 the Gambia was de- ' 
tached, in 1866 joined again; and in 1874 the Gold Coast 
and Lagos were separated from the supreme control of Sierra 
Leone. Finally in 1888, the Gambia having been made a 
separate administration. Sierra Leone became an isolated 
colony. Between 1862 and 1864 its territory was consider- 
ably extended along the coast, and a treaty of delimitation 
with France in 1894, though it cut off the access of Sierra 
Leone to the Niger, still extended the influence of the colony 
a considerable distance inland. During the '8o's' there 
were considerable difficulties with turbulent tribes, especially 
the * Yonnis,' who were subdued by an expedition under Sir 
Francis de Winton; and during the present year, 1898, an 



vl] The British in Africa. 109 

uprising of the natives of the interior in opposition to the 
suppression of the slave trade and the levying of a hut tax has 
seriously disturbed the colony. 

Although British traders in gold and in slaves came in the 
wake of the Portuguese in the i6th century, they established 
no form of administration until 1672, when Charles II gave a 
charter to the Royal African Company and the monopoly of 
trade between Morocco and Cape Colony. The Royal African 
Company built forts at various places on the Gold Coast, and 
at Why da ^ on the coast of Dahome. It was succeeded in 
1750 by the African Company of merchants, a company 
subsidized by the Government, which continued to exist until 
1 82 1, at which date the British forts on the Gold Coast were 
placed under the government of the West African settlements, 
and the fort at Whyda was abandoned. In 1824, while on a 
tour of inspection, the Governor of Sierra Leone, Sir Charles 
Macarthy, landed at Cape Coast Castle, then the head-quarters 
of British administration on the Gold Coast, and unfortunately 
embarked on a war with the Ashanti without properly or- 
ganized forces. He was defeated and killed. The Imperial 
Government carried on the war for three years, finally inflicting 
a defeat on the Ashanti near Accra, which led three years later 
to a peace. But this lengthy campaign had disgusted the 
Imperial Government with rule on the Gold Coast, and as 
soon as peace was concluded with the Ashanti they handed 
over these settlements to a committee of London merchants. 
This committee selected and sent out an excellent man as 
Governor — Mr Charles Maclean. This administrator contrived 
with a yearly subsidy of ;£40oo and a force of 100 police to 
extend British influence over an area nearly coincident with 
the present Gold Coast Colony. But in 1843 the rule of the 
merchants was replaced once more by that of the Crown, 
though Maclean was taken into the service of the new Imperial 
administration. 

* Properly * Hwida.' 



no The Colonization of Africa, [Chap. 

The Danes and Swedes in the full swing of the slave 
trade had established forts on the Gold Coast in the 17th 
and 1 8th centuries respectively to supply their West Indian 
islands with slaves. The Swedes soon abandoned their 
trading forts, but Denmark still retained four down to the 
middle of the 19th century, all of which she then sold to 
England in 1850 for ;;^i 0,000. For the same modest pay- 
ment Denmark transferred to England the protectorate over a 
considerable area to the east of the Gold Coast Colony, along 
the river Volta. The Dutch during the 17th and i8th cen- 
turies had planted forts on the Gold Coast in rivalry with the 
English, and in most cases alongside of them. After the 
abolition of the slave trade Holland lost interest in her West 
African possessions. Their existence was very awkward to the 
English, as it prevented the collection of customs duties. In 
1868 a partition of the coast was negotiated between England 
and Holland, the Dutch taking over all the forts west of a 
certain line, and the English those which lay to the east of this 
boundary. In this manner the English acquired at last the 
whole of the town of Accra, which is now the capital of the 
Gold Coast. In 187 1-2 the Dutch agreed to abandon to the 
English all their remaining possessions on the Gold Coast in 
return for the cession of certain British claims over Sumatra 
and Java. Unfortunately, the transfer of territory from the 
Dutch entailed a quarrel with the powerful negro kingdom of 
Ashanti, situated behind the coast tribes of this region but 
striving always to reach the sea. The Ashanti kingdom was 
rather a confederacy of small negro states, with the King of 
Kumasi at its head, than a homogeneous monarchy. In 1872 
this paramount King of Kumasi despatched an army of 40,000 
men to invade the British Protectorate and assert his claim to 
domination over the Fanti tribes of the colony. A large force 
of Fantis was to some extent armed and organized by the 
British Government, but the Ashantis defeated them twice 
with great slaughter, and then attacked the British fort of 



VI.] The British in Africa. m 

Elmina, where the Ashanti army sustained such a serious 
repulse that it avoided any further attacks on British fortified 
settlements. A year afterwards, Sir John Glover (as he sub- 
sequently became) marched with Hausa levies to attack the 
Ashanti from the east, while Sir Garnet Wolseley^ arriving in 
the winter of 1873 ^^^^ ^ strong expedition composed of 
British soldiers, contingents of the West Indian regiments, 
British seamen, and marines, drove the enemy back into their 
country, reached the capital, Kumasi, and captured and burned 
that place. A somewhat dubious peace was arrived at, the 
king never afterwards fulfilling the terms of the treaty, which 
he was supposed to have signed with a pencil cross ; and for 
twenty-one years to follow British relations with Ashanti 
(which was also devastated by civil war) were unsatisfactory. 
At last in 1895 another strong expedition marched on the 
capital without firing a shot and took the king prisoner. The 
result has been that thenceforth Ashanti has been administered 
by the government of the Gold Coast. 

Although the Gold Coast is perhaps the most unhealthy of 
the British West African possessions, it is prosperous in its 
finances, and has made great progress in trade. In the last 
ten years the total value of its trade has more than doubled, 
and stands now at ;;£ 1,5 00,000 in approximate yearly value. 

The colony of Lagos came into existence in 1863^ ^^ 
was afterwards added to the government of the West African 
Settlements, then attached to the Gold Coast; and finally in 
1886 made an independent colony. Lagos, as its name shows, 
was originally a discovery of the Portuguese, who so named it 
firom the large lagoon, which until recently was a harbour of 
very doubtful value, even on this harbourless coast, but is now 
by a vast expenditure of money rendered safe for exit and 
entrance at high tide. In the days of the early Portuguese 
adventurers the modem territory of Lagos was partly under 

^ Afterwards Viscount Wolseley. 
' The territory was ceded in 1861. 



112 The Colonization of Africa, [Chap. 

the influence of Dahome, partly under the rule of Benin ; and 
the Portuguese and subsequently the British came there to buy 
slaves which native warfare rendered so abundant. In prose- 
cuting the crusade against the slave trade in the middle of the 
present century the British Government came into contact with 
the king of Lagos, who had become one of the most truculent 
slave traders on the coast. This king, Kosoko, was expelled 
by a British naval expedition in 185 1, and his cousin was 
placed on the throne after having made a treaty with the 
British binding himself to put down the slave trade. A British 
consul was appointed to superintend the execution of this 
treaty, but neither the king who signed it nor the son who 
succeeded him kept faithfully to its provisions. At length, in 
1 86 1, the king of Lagos ceded his state to the British Govern- 
ment in return for a pension of ;£'iooo a year, which he drew 
until his death twenty-four years later. Under British rule 
Lagos attained remarkable prosperity, though unhappily its 
extremely unhealthy climate has caused great loss of life 
amongst the officials appointed to administer the colony. 
Owing to the great commercial movement in its port (the 
adaptation of which to ocean-going steamers proved very 
difficult and very expensive) it is called, with some justice, 
the " Liverpool of West Africa." 

At any time between the annexation of Lagos and, say, 
1880, the small strip of coast which separates Lagos from the 
Gold Coast might easily have been taken under British 
protection, the only power with any intervening rights being 
Portugal with one fort on the coast of Dahome; but the 
Home Government would never agree to this procedure until 
it was too late and France and Germany had intervened. 
Latterly, during the last fourteen years, there was growing 
trouble with France owing to her extending her protection or 
colonization over the little kingdom of Porto Novo and the 
large negro state of Dahome. These disputes as to delimita- 
tion of the frontier were settled in 1889 as far north as the 



VI.] The British in Africa, 113 

9th parallel. Then ensued in 1897 and 1898 a strenuous 
attempt on the part of the French to cut across the Lagos 
hinterland up to the Niger, but this difference has again been 
happily solved by the Convention signed between the two 
countries in the summer of this year (1898). 

Beyond Lagos, and indeed connected with it by half 

choked-up creeks, begins the great delta of the Niger, which 

extends along an elbow of the coast about 200 miles to the 

eastward, and ends — so far as direct connection with the Niger 

is concerned — at the mouth of the river Kwo-ibo, though 

there are possibly creeks inside the coast-line which would 

carry on the connection of the delta to the Old Calabar river. 

These innumerable branches of the Niger estuary were taken 

to be independent rivers (which indeed they are to some 

extent, receiving as they do many streams rising independently 

of the main Niger) until well into the present century, when it 

was at last made clear that they constituted the outlets of the 

third greatest river of Africa. Together with the adjoining 

rivers of Old Calabar and the Cameroons, they became known 

as the " Oil Rivers," because they produced the greater part 

and the best quality of the palm oil sent to the European 

market The Portuguese first came here in the 17th and i8th 

centuries (after falling out with the king of Benin) to trade in 

slaves, and the English followed them at the end of the i8th 

century and displaced them altogether. Evidence of former 

Portuguese interest in the Niger Delta is sufficiently shown by 

the fact that some of these rivers have Portuguese names, or 

Portuguese corruptions of native names. The remaining 

names are chiefly those of naval officers or ships that surveyed 

them, or occasionally a native name more or less corrupted. 

By the time the slave trade was rendered illegal, the won- 
derful virtues of palm oil had been discovered, chiefly in con- 
nection with its value as a lubricant for machinery, especially 
locomotives. It is also of especial value for making candles 
and soap. Therefore the development of railways in England 

J. A. 8 



• 

^ 



114 The Colonization of Africa, [Chap, 

and other European countries, the new cleanliness, which 
coincidently was preached as a British gospel, and the spread 
of education and love of reading made the fortune of the Oil 
Rivers and those merchants who settled there at imminent 
risk of death from fever. Already in the '40's British trading 
interests had become so important in the Niger Delta that 
a consul was appointed. The British Government, for the 
purpose of putting down the slave trade, had, with the consent 
of Spain, ocoupied during the first half of the 19th century the 
Spanish island of Fernando Po, and the administration of this 
island was for some time connected with the consular post 
for the Bights of Biafra and Benin. Afterwards, when Spain 
resumed the possession of Fernando Po, the British consul for 
the Bights was also consul for the Spanish island ; but little by 
little his duties obliged him to reside more on the Oil Rivers 
than on the adjoining island. With the exception of the 
brilliant Richard Burton, who for four years was consul for the 
Bights of Biafra and Benin, the post was usually held by a 
gentleman who had been to some extent previously connected 
with African trade, and whose purview was not much extended 
politically; but in 1880 the late Mr E. H. Hewett, C.M.G. 
(formerly Vice-Consul in Angola, and brother of the late 
Admiral Hewett), a man of some distinction, was appointed 
to the post. He took up his residence at Old Calabar, and his 
reports aroused great interest in the Government of that period, 
which was disposed to accede to the petitions of the chiefs and 
to take all the coast under British protection from Lagos to 
the Gaboon. But the plans of the Ministry were not fully settled 
until the end of 1883, and when Mr Hewett returned to the 
coast with full powers he was slightly delayed by ill-health and 
still more so by the beginning of the Niger Question, and the 
importance of securing a hold over the lower Niger. Con- 
sequently, the German Government, taking advantage of Mr 
Hewett's difficulties, suddenly pounced on the Cameroons, 
though only a very small portion of the Cameroons river was 



VI.] The British in Africa, 115 

actually secured by the German envoy. By dint of rapid move- 
ments, the British flag was erected over all the remaining territory 
in the Oil Rivers district. Had the German Government been 
taken literally, and merely allowed to hold the four or five 
square miles of territory it had legally secured, its action in 
forestalling Mr Hewett would have been scarcely noticed ; but 
Germany was determined to have a large slice of West Africa, 
and the British Government, being embarrassed by difficulties 
elsewhere in foreign affairs, had to withdraw its flag eventually 
from the vicinity of the Cameroons river and mountain. The 
last patch of Cameroons territory which was given up to Ger- 
many was the interesting little settlement of Ambas Bay on the 
flanks of the mighty Cameroons mountain, founded by the 
English Baptist Mission when expelled from Fernando Po. 
Mr Hewett annexed this territory in 1884, and the author 
of this book administered it from 1885 until the time of its 
surrender to Germany in 1887. 

The limits of the Oil Rivers Protectorate were then drawn 
at the Rio del Rey on the east, and the boundary of Lagos 
Colony on the west. The eastern boundary was subsequently 
extended by agreement with Germany to the upper waters of the 
river Benue and to the shores of Lake Chad This acquisi- 
tion — now known as the Niger Coast Protectorate — was at 
first administered by consular authority and by the author of 
this book, who found himself obliged to face a serious difficulty 
in the determined opposition of certain coast chiefs to the 
carrying on of direct trade with the interior. These were the 
"middle men," who had for several centuries prevented the 
penetration of Africa from the West coast by Europeans, in the 
dread that they would lose their lucrative commission on the 
products of the interior which they retailed on the coast. 
Some of these chiefs were of long established ruling families ; 
others again had commenced life as slaves and had risen 
to be wealthy merchant-kings with incomes of ;^3o,ooo to 
^^5 0,000 a year, derived from their profits on the goods from 
the interior which passed through their hands. Foremost 

8—2 



1 16 The Colonization of Africa. [Chap. 

among these obstructive individuals was Ja-Ja, a slave from 
the Ibo country, who as servant, trader and counsellor to chiefs 
of Bonny had risen to such a position of wealth and influence 
that he had armed a large force of fighting men and a flotilla 
of war canoes, and made himself the most powerful chief in 
the Niger Delta. He resided on the river Opobo, and was 
very jealous of his independence, only signing a qualified treaty 
of protection with the British Government from the well- 
grounded fear that if he did not do so the French would take 
his country as an access to the Niger. As Ja-Ja at last went 
to the length of forcible opposition to trade between the 
British merchants and the natives of the interior, the present 
writer was compelled to remove him to the Gold Coast to be 
tried before a commissioner. As a result of the trial he was 
deposed and sentenced to five years' banishment in the West 
Indies. He did not live to return to his country; but with 
his disappearance the principal resistance of the middle-men 
was broken, though at Benin and behind Old Calabar similar 
action has had to be taken to secure free trade. 

The Niger Coast Protectorate is now governed to all 
intents and purposes like a Crown colony, though for the time 
being it is still under the direction of the Foreign Office. 

So much for the delta of the Niger. A keen rivalry had 
taken place about the same time between Great Britain and 
France for the possession of that great stream above the delta. 
The Niger had been discovered from its source to the last 
rapid at the head of its seaward navigability by Mungo Park, 
one of the greatest of British explorers. The rest of the 
exploration from Busa to the sea had been completed by other 
British travellers; from the point of view of discovery the 
whole Niger was British from source to mouth. The naviga- 
tion of the river from the sea to above its confluence with the 
Benue was first organized by a Scotchman, MacGregor Laird, 
in 1832 ; and in 1841, 1854 and 1857 the British Government 
despatched various expeditions to explore and make treaties ; 
they also established a consul (Dr Baikie) to reside at Lokoja, 



VI.] The British in Africa, \\J 

• 

where the Benue meets the Niger. The loss of life from the 

effects of the climate was so great in those days that the British 
Government became discouraged. The consulate at Lokoja 
was abolished in 1866, and on the other hand no attempt 
whatever was made to attach to the interior of Sierra Leone 
the rich countries lying beyond the sources of the Niger. 
But for independent action on the part of British traders 
the Niger would have become either entirely French, or in 
the main a French river with a German estuary. During 
the *8o's' the French Government of Senegal pushed forward 
to the Upper Niger. Earlier still, by the influence of Gambetta, 
two powerful French politico-commercial companies were 
formed to establish trading houses all along the Lower Niger. 
In spite of much discouragement, however, the numerous British 
firms that traded with the Niger had stuck to the river; but 
although they were doing a great deal of trade their profits 
were reduced by excessive competition. The hour had come 
to strike for the Niger; where was the man? A Captain 
George Goldie Taubman^ (a Royal Engineers officer) had 
been left several thousand pounds' worth of shares in one of 
these small Niger Companies. Having spent some time in 
Egypt, he resolved to go to the Niger and see whether his 
shares were worth retaining. Like an analogous great man in 
South Africa, he decided on working for amalgamation. With 
untiring energy and great tact he brought about the consolida- 
tion of all the British companies trading on the Niger. Then 
he bought out the French company, discouraged as they were 
by Gambetta's death, and boldly applied to the Imperial Govern- 
ment for a charter, being able to show them that no other 
trading firm but his own existed on the Niger. England was 
just about to take part at that time in the Conference of Berlin. 
She lost the Congo but won the Niger. When the British 
claim to a protectorate was acceded to in principle at the 
Berlin Conference, a charter was granted to the National 

^ Afterwards Sir George Taubman Goldie. 



Ii8 The Colonization of Africa. [Chap. 

• 
African Company founded by Captain, now the Right Hon» 

Sir George Taubman Goldie, who changed the name of his 
association to that of the Royal Niger Company. The main 
course of the river Niger down to the sea was placed under the 
administration of this chartered company, but the Benin district 
to the West, and the Brass, Bonny, Opobo, and Old Calabar 
districts to the East were, as already related, eventually organized 
as the Niger Coast Protectorate under direct Imperial adminis- 
tration, because in these countries the Niger Company had no 
predominating interests. In all probability the administration 
of the Niger and of the Niger Coast will one day be unified and 
possibly joined with the neighbouring colony of Lagos. 

When Sir George Goldie's Company had expended nearly 
all its available capital in buying out the French and purchasing 
governing rights from the native chiefs (all of which expen- 
diture would have been unnecessary if their Government had 
adopted at the first the bold policy of declaring the Lower 
Niger a British Protectorate), a fresh obstacle had to be over- 
come: German rivalry came into play. The Germans had 
just taken the Cameroons but had failed to secure the Oil 
Rivers. Herr Flegel was sent to obtain concessions beyond 
the limits of the Royal Niger Company's immediate jurisdic- 
tion in the Nigerian Sudan. But Flegel was forestalled in 
his principal object by the explorer Joseph Thompson, who 
most ably conducted a mission to the court of the emperor 
of Sokoto, and secured a treaty with that important Fula 
potentate which brought his territories under exclusive British 
influence. In 1890 British claims to a vast Niger empire were 
recognized by France and Germany. Unhappily the French 
recognition was allowed to remain too vague in regard to the 
northern and western boundaries of British Nigeria, thus 
rendering it possible for France in the ensuing eight years to 
strive to cut into the British sphere from two directions, if not 
three. On the north it was sought to push back the boundary 
of the empire of Sokoto, so as to bring the French sphere as 



VI.] . The British in Africa, Up 

iax as possible to the south, though this assertion went little 
beyond map-making. On the south, Lieutenant Mizon made ^ 
the most persistent, hostile, and, as it would seem, unpractical 
attempts to secure for France a large sphere of influence on 
the river Benue, which could hardly be approached from 
French territory because the German sphere would stand in ^ 
the way. Finally as the delimitation in the Anglo-French 
agreement of 1890 merely carried the British boundary from 
Lake Chad to Say on the middle Niger, and did not provide a 
western boundary, the French (though unofficially according us 
in 1890 a straight line drawn from Say due south to the 
boundary between Lagos and Dahome) gradually pushed their 
acquisitions eastward from Senegambia until they had secured 
all the right bank of the Middle and Lower Niger as far as 
Busa, which is at the end of the Niger cataracts and at the 
commencement of its navigability seawards. A British pro- 
tectorate over Busa had been announced to France in 1894, 
so that this act on the part of the French was a distinct 
trespass on British rights and caused considerable excitement 
at the time; but, as may be seen by the recently signed 
convention, the French finally yielded to British claims. 
They had some time before tacitly disowned the enterprise of - 
Lieutenant Mizon, which had been rendered the more hope- 
less, firstly by the agreement between England and Germany 
in 1893 (which provided for a continuous Anglo-German 
boundary firom the Rio del Key on the coast to the southern 
shores of Lake Chad), and secondly by the subsequent Franco- 
German agreement of 1894 by which a wedge of German 
territory was interposed between the French claims in Congo- 
land and on the river Shari, and the British sphere on the 
Benue; though nevertheless the Germans admitted the French 
to a point on the extreme upper waters of the Benue in return 
for German access to one of the Congo tributaries. 

Besides being hampered by the conflicting ambitions of other 
European powers, the Niger Company has had to conduct a 



120 The Colonization of Africa. [Chap. 

very important campaign against the Amir of Nupe. Like most 
great Muhammadan empires, Sokoto consisted of a bundle of 
vassal states owing a varying degree of allegiance to the domin- 
ant power. The fact is that British Nigeria contains four 
important, slightly civilized negro peoples, and an indefinite 
number of savage tribes who are politically of no account 
whatever. These four great peoples are the Songhai on the 
North-west, the Hausa occupying all the centre, the Bomu or 
Kanuri on the North-east, and the Nupe on the South-west. 
Over three of these (excepting the Kanuri) the Fula conquests 
of a century ago had established Fula rule with its head- 
quarters in the Hausa States. But the kingdom of Nupe, 
though ruled by a Fula dynasty, held its allegiance to the 
court of Sokoto but cheaply, and requested at the hands of the 
Niger Company a recognition of its complete independence, 
which for political reasons the Company could not give. This 
powerful kingdom, however, stood in the way of all access to 
Sokoto, and in its defiance of the Niger Company raided for 
slaves far down on the Lower Niger. Unless a way was to be 
opened for successful foreign intrigue by allowing Nupe to assert 
its independence of Sokoto and the Royal Niger Company, it 
was necessary to subdue its pretensions. Therefore Sir George 
Goldie, with the aid of a well chosen staff of British officers, of 
Hausa troops and machine guns, inflicted a crushing defeat on 
the Fula forces of Nupe, captured their capital, and success- 
fully asserted the sovereign rights of the Company as conferred 
on them by the Sultan of Sokoto. Subsequently other turbu- 
lent and slave-raiding tribes were dealt with, and the Company 
is gradually rendering itself master of a great empire in West- 
central Africa, which it will in time hand over to direct 
Imperial administration. 

Interest in these regions of the Western Sudan was evinced 
by the British Government early in the present century, and it 
was at the expense of our country that numerous expeditions 
set out from Tripoli across the Sahara Desert to discover Lake 



VI.] The British in Africa. I2i 

Chad and to reveal the existence of the river Benue. At one 
time British influence was so strong with the semi-independent 
Basha of Tripoli, that it seemed possible that British protection 
might be accorded to that state, seeing that France in a 
similar manner had ignored equally valid Turkish claims to 
the suzerainty of Algiers. But the uprising of Muhammad Ali 
in Egypt awakened the Turks to the necessity of reenforcing 
their claims to Tripoli, and British projects in that direction 
were abandoned. 

As regards Morocco, the Portuguese fortress of Tangier 
had been ceded to England in 1662, the British havif^g desired 
it as giving them a port of call close to the Straits of Gibraltar. 
It was found difficult however to maintain it against the con- 
tinual attacks of the Moors, and it was therefore surrendered 
to the Emperor of Morocco in 1684; though it is pretty 
generally understood that were the Empire of Morocco to 
break up or come under the influence of a European power, 
Tangier would be re-occupied by England During the long 
period in which the late Sir John Drummond Hay represented 
England at the court of Morocco British influence not only 
saved that country from conquest by France and by Spain, but 
made it almost a vassal state of the British Empire, as was the 
case with Zanzibar under Sir John Kirk, and Tunis under Sir 
Richard Wood. A British factory was established, without 
much encouragement, it is said, from the British Government, 
at Cape Juby, opposite the Canary Islands, on a stretch of 
coast to the south of Morocco, which was without definite 
attachment to any recognized state. It seemed at one time as 
though the establishment of this trading company might lead 
to some assertion of British political rights, but other counsels 
prevailed, and at the instigation of the British Government the 
Sultan of Morocco acquired the company's rights, and took 
under his flag the coast between the river Draa and the 
boundary of the Spanish Rio de Oro protectorate, which 
begins a little distance to the south of Cape Juby. 



CHAPTER VII. 



THE FRENCH IN WEST AND NORTH AFRICA. 

It has been asserted with some degree of probability that 
certain seamen-adventurers of Dieppe found their way along 
the West coast of Africa as far as the Gold Coast in the 
14th century, a hundred years before the Portuguese; and 
that they established themselves on the Senegal river, built two 
settlements (Little Paris, and Little Dieppe) on the Liberian 
coast, and established trading stations at "La Mine d'Or'^ 
(Elmina), at Accra, and at Kormantin, on the Gold Coast. 
The Dieppois station at Elmina was said to have been 
founded in 1382, but forty years later, owing to the wars in 
France having distracted Norman commerce from over-sea 
enterprise, these settlements were abandoned. There may 
have been some truth in these accounts of Norman discoveries 
on the West coast of Africa. A Normafi^adventurer un- 
doubtedly discovered the Canary Islands in the 14th century^ 
and it is probable that the Rio d'Ouro was known to Italian 
seamen before it was placed on the map by the Portuguese. 
When, three centuries later, the French founded a settlement 
at the mouth of the Senegal, they are said to have discovered 
the remains of a Norman fort (built there by these adventurers 
from Dieppe) and to have made it the nucleus of the modem 
town of St Louis. 

At any rate, soon after the Portuguese had laid bare the 
coast of Guinea, ships began to sail from the Norman ports to 
resume or to commence the West African trade, though no 



Chap, vii.] The French in West and North Africa, 123 

attempt was made to found any political settlements ; for in 
the matter of founding colonies in Africa, France was con- 
siderably behind Portugal, Holland, and England. However, 
a young Frenchman named Claude Jannequin de Rochefort 
was pacing the quays at Dieppe in 1637 with vague aspirations 
to be *' another Cortes." Happening to ask where a certain 
ship was going, and being told in reply that she was bound for 
the '*Senaga" river in Africa, near Cape de Verde, he instantly 
resolved to go, and before many hours were over was entered 
on the ship's book as a soldier; he afterwards performed the 
duties of clerk to the captain. It would seem that this vessel, 
which had not only soldiers but monks on board, must have 
been despatched by some far-seeing authority, since before the 
Sieur de Rochefort joined its company it had been determined 
to stop on the West African coast north of the Senegal river, 
cut down trees, build a small boat, and use it to explore 
the Senegal. This plan had been formulated in complete 
ignorance of the fact that the coast north of the Senegal and 
south of Morocco contains no timber for boat-building. Find- 
ing this to be the case, the Dieppe expedition, under the 
command of Captain Lambert, with the Sieur de Rochefort 
among its soldiers, went on to the Senegal and put together a 
small boat out of timber they had brought from France. Into 
this small vessel they transferred a portion of their crew, 
including De Rochefort, and the Senegal river was explored 
for no miles from its mouth. Although the Dieppe adven- 
turers were said to have built a fort on the site of St Louis in 
1360, and the Portuguese had a few trading posts on its lower 
reaches in the 15 th century, there were no Europeans on the 
river when it was visited by De Rochefort, though the Dutch 
had established stations on the coast not far off. After obtain- 
ing concessions from the natives, Captain Lambert's expedition 
returned to France (experiencing many delays and adventures 
on the way), and six years after he had started from Dieppe De 
Rochefort published an interesting account of their adventures. 



124 ^^ Colonization of Africa. [Chap. 

But this pioneer expedition was not soon followed up, 
owing to the hostility of the Dutch. The Norman Company 
sold its rights to the French West India Company, and the 
latter again transferred them to a subsidiary association after- 
wards called the '^ Royal Senegal Company." This last-named 
corporation sent out a very able man to attend to its affairs — 

•^Andrd de Briie — who made his head-quarters at Fort St Louis, 
which had been founded by De Rochefort's party. This 
remarkable person, Briie, combined the qualities of a man of 
science and a far-sighted trader, and he may be said to have 

^really laid the foundations of the French empire in West 
Africa. Briie made two important journeys up the Senegal 
and into the interior. He remained eighteen years on the coast 
of Senegal, and visited the Gambia in 1700, finding English, 
Portuguese, and Spanish there, the first named trading at the 
mouth of the river, and the two last settled some distance up 
its course as flourishing slave traders. According to Briie, the 
Portuguese slave trading settlements exhibited some degree of 
civilization, but also of rowdiness among the European ele- 
ment, not unlike the proceedings of the "Mohocks" in the 
streets of London. In his writings Briie expresses his amaze- 
ment at the enormous number of bees inhabiting the mangrove 
swamps and coast lands of Guinea. In the early part of the 
1 8th century Briie sent out agents to extend French influence 
up the Senegal and towards the " Gold " country of Bambuk, 
the mountainous region on the upper Senegal. Briie finally 
returned to France in 1715 and lived quietly for a long time 
afterwards on the large fortune he had accumulated. His is a 
name to be well remembered in the annals of the French 
Empire. <^He was a far-sighted, cultivated man, who had also 
the gift of choosing and employing good associates. Among 
these may be mentioned the Sieur Campagnon, the beau- 
ideal of a good-tempered, good-looking, supple, kind-hearted, 
valorous Frenchman. Only the charm of Campagnon's win- 
ning ways enabled him to penetrate the recesses of Bambuk, 



vil] The French in West and North Africa. 125 

whose secrets as a gold-bearing country were jealously guarded 
by the natives. One little incident of Campagnon's life on the 
Senegal depicts his disposition. Walking round the outskirts 
of St Louis he came across an unfortunate lioness that had 
belonged to an inhabitant of the town, but had been thrown 
out on the rubbish heaps to die. The unfortunate beast had 
been suffering from some malady of the jaw which would not 
permit mastication, and was therefore nearly dead from hunger. 
When Campagnon saw the lioness her eyes were glazing and 
her mouth was full of ants and dirt. He took pity on the 
unfortunate creature, washed her mouth and throat clean, and 
fed her with milk. This saved her life, and the grateful animal 
conceived a warm affection for him, and would afterwards 
follow him about like a dog and take food from no one else. 
Dr Robert Brown, who unearthed this charming anecdote, 
further informs us that after his romantic career in Africa 
Campagnon returned to France, and died after a long and 
prosperous life, a master mason and undertaker in Paris. 

The French continued to develop their Senegal settlements 
with some prosperity until 1758, when they were captured by 
the British, who held them until 1778, and acquired them 
again for a time by the peace of 1783 ; after this they were in 
British hands a few years longer, but were French again by 
1790. In 1800 the British took the island of Goree, which 
the French had acquired from the Dutch at the end of the 
1 7th century (from whom also they had taken Arguin, a little 
island near Cape Blanco, in 1721). By the peace of 1783 the 
English had secured from the French the exclusive right to 
trade with the Arabs or Moors of Portendik for grain. Por- 
tendik was a place on the Senegal coast about 1 20 miles north 
of St Louis. All the French possessions in Senegal which 
were held by the British from time to time during the 
Napoleonic wars were given back to France at the peace of 
1 81 5, though at that time the British hold over the Gambia 
was more clearly defined (the French only retaining one post 



126 The Colonization of Africa, [Chap. 

on that river, given up in 1857 in return for the British trade 
monopoly with Portendik). The French had akeady resumed 
their explorations of Senegambia at the end of the i8th cen- 
tury, and after the final recovery of the Senegal river in 181 7 
these researches were pushed with some degree of ardour. In 
1 81 8 MoUien discovered the sources of the Gambia, and De 
Beaufort explored the country of Kaarta. In 1827 Ren^ 
Gaillid started from the river Nunez with help derived from the 
colony of Sierra Leone (for which he was subsequently very 
ungrateful) and descended the Niger to Timbuktu, thence 
making his way across the desert to Morocco. His journey, 
however, did not do much to lure the French Nigerwards at 
that time, especially as a great Fula conqueror had arisen. 
El Hadj 'Omar, whose conquests not only blocked the way to 
the Niger, but later on threatened the very existence of the 
French settlements on the Senegal But after a long period of 
inaction and lack of interest, the French colony of the Senegal 
was to receive great extension. General Faidherbe, who for 
political reasons was rather distrusted by the newly-formed 
Second Empire, was exiled to Senegal in 1854 in the guise of 
an appointment as Governor-General. He was a man of great 
enterprise and intelligence, and immediately began to study 
the resoiurces and extension of the Senegal colony. He first 
punished severely the Moorish tribes to the north of the river 
Senegal, who had again and again raided the settled country. 
Before he had been a year in Senegambia, Faidherbe had 
annexed the Wuli country, and had built the fort of Medina to 
oppose the progress of El Hadj 'Omar. 'Omar sent an army 
of 20,000 men against Medina, but they were repulsed by the 
officer in command, and finally had to retreat before Faid- 
herbe's advance. Following on the repulse of the Fulas came 
the annexation of many countries along the Upper Senegal, 
and in the direction of the Gambia. A year later the country 
between St Louis and the mouth of the Gambia, past Cape 
Verde, had been annexed. Then the Casamanse river, between 



VII.] The French in West and North Africa. 127 

the Gambia and Portuguese Guinea, was taken ; then, in the 
*6o's/ the coast between Portuguese Guinea and Sierra Leone 
was added to the French possessions, under the name of 
" Rivieres du Sud." 

A suspension of French activity occurred after the disas- 
trous Franco-German war, but it was resumed again in 1880. 
Captain Gallidni surveyed the route for a railway to connect 
the navigable Senegal with the Upper Niger, which he reached 
in that year at Bamaku. But he and other French officers had 
to contend with the imposing forces of king Ahmadu, the son 
and successor of El Hadj 'Omar, who ruled over the country 
between the upper Senegal and the Niger. However Ahmadu's 
capital of Kita was taken by Colonel Desbordes, and a treaty 
was made with Ahmadu which placed his territory under 
French protection. By 1883 the post of Bamaku on the 
Upper Niger had been definitely founded and fortified. The 
French then came into conflict with the forces of Samori, a 
negro (probably Mandingo) king who had risen from a very 
humble position to that of conqueror and ruler of the countries 
about the source of the Niger. Both Samori and Ahmadu 
commanded hordes of Muhammadan negroes, whose conquests 
were often undertaken from propagandist motives, and who 
were to some extent in sympathy with the Muhammadan tribes 
of the Lower Niger. Roughly speaking, Ahmadu may be said 
to represent the dying Fula power on the western Niger — that 
power which at the beginning of this century founded an 
empire stretching from the Senegal to Lake Chad and the 
Benue — while Samori's forces were mainly recruited from 
among the Mandingo races, Muhammadan negroes who have 
long played a very important part in the commerce and 
development of West Africa. In 1885-6 a campaign was 
undertaken by Colonel Frey against Samori, which did some- 
thing to check the power of that raiding chief. Subsequently 
the French had to suppress a formidable insurrection among 
the Muhammadan populations of the newly protected countries. 



128 The Colofiization of Africa. [Chap. 

In 1887 Colonel Gaili^ni returned, and made a further and 
more ample treaty with Ahmadu. He constructed a railway 
round the cataracts of the Senegal. He also concluded 
another treaty with Samori by which the latter recognized as 
under French rule a small portion of the Upper Niger. 
Galli^ni further despatched Lieutenant Caron in 1887 to visit 
Timbuktu on a gunboat Caron reached the port of Timbuktu 
(Kabara), but the hostility of the natives prevented his visitii^ 
the city, and he returned without effecting more than an 
ominous reconnaissance. In 1881 France had taken, some- 
what forcibly, Futa-jalon, the home of the Fulas\ under her 
protection. This treaty in 1887 was extended and ratified. 
The British had been repeatedly invited to extend their pro- 
tection to Futa-jalon, but had declined, though at one time it 
would have been easy enough to have connected the colonies 
of the Gambia and Sierra Leone, through this mountainous 
region. In 1888 Captain Binger commenced an exploring 
journey for France which had the most remarkable results. 
He was the first to enter the unknown country included within 
the great northern bend of the Niger. He secured by treaty 
French protection over Tieba, Kong, and other countries lying 
between the Niger and the Ivory Coast. In 1890-91 Ahmadu, 
the Fula king, had been attempting to shake himself free from 
French control. Colonel Archinard conducted campaigns 
against him which ended in adding to the French Senegalese 
dominions Kaarta, Bakhunu and Segu, and thus freed from 
obstruction the road to Timbuktu. Later on Colonel Archi- 
nard defeated the raider-king Samori and occupied his capital, 
Bisandugu, near the frontiers of Liberia. Samori then moved 
further to the east, thus coming into contact with the advanced 

^ The Fulas — a most interesting race — are n^;roid rather than n^ro in 
physical type and seem to be the result of a cross between the Berbers of 
the Sahara and the negroes of the Sudan; they dwelt originally in the 
countries north of the Senegal, but crossing that river they seized on 
Futa-jalon as their home. 



VII.] The French in West and North Africa, 129 

posts of the Gold C6ast colony. An attempt was made in 
1894-5 to attack him in his new kingdom, and Colonel 
Monteil (who had previously journeyed from Senegal to the 
Niger, and from the Niger to Bornu, and thence overland to 
Tripoli) led a military expedition against him from the Ivory 
Coast. Colonel Monteil was very unsuccessful, and was re- 
called by the French Government. Finally in the autumn of 
1898, Lieutenant Woelfel and other French officers advancing 
from the Ivory Coast inflicted the most crushing defeats on 
Samorfs forces and reduced his power to a nullity. 

During the reign of Louis Philippe a somewhat feeble 
revival of colonial enterprise had taken place, during which 
France made half-hearted attempts to establish herself in 
New Zealand, and secured New Caledonia and Tahiti in the 
Pacific At this time also she thought of extending her 
possessions in unoccupied districts along the West Coast of 
Africa, and had acquired rights over Grand Bassam and Assini 
to the west of the British Gold Coast. During the '6o's some 
efforts were made by the Second Empire to stake out claims 
in Africa, and Porto Novo was accorded French protection in 
1868. These claims however had been allowed to lapse to 
some degree, and the places acquired would at one time have 
been willingly handed over to England for a small compensa- 
tion. But in the scramble for Africa that commenced in 1884 
they suddenly acquired immense value in the eyes of the 
French as footholds upon which to commence an expansion 
northwards from the Gulf of Guinea to the Niger empire of 
which France had begun to dream. In 1884 therefore Grand 
Bassam and Assini, on the Gold Coast, and Porto Novo, a 
tiny little vassal kingdom of Dahome, were effectively occupied. 
The journey of Captain Binger from the Niger to the Gold 
Coast gave Grand Bassam a hinterland, and the consequence 
was that the Ivory Coast between Grand Bassam and Liberia 
i was annexed by France in 1891. Hitherto this coast, the 
interior of which was then and is still one of the least known 

J. A. 9 



130 The Colonization of Africa. [Chap. 

parts of Africa, had been of great importance to British trade, 
which was carried on chiefly by Bristol sailing ships. Moreover, 
from the Ivory Coast come the bulk of the celebrated Kni- 
boys, who are the best labour obtainable along the West 
Coast of Africa from the Gambia to the Orange River. Never- 
theless, although the petty chiefs of the Ivory Coast had often 
offered their friendship and vassalage to Great Britain, no 
steps were taken on the part of the British Government, and 
therefore no protest was offered when France annexed the 
Ivory Coast and became next neighbour to Liberia. In 1894 
a somewhat stringent treaty was concluded between France 
and Liberia, by which, in the event of the latter coming 
under the influence or protection of any other power, France 
would have the reversion of much of her hinterland. The 
occupation of Porto Novo soon led to a quarrel with Dahome, 
a kingdom of singular bloodthirstiness, which had defied both 
England and Portugal at. different times, and had laughed at 
our futile blockades of its coast. After a preliminary occupa- 
tion of the Dahomean coast towns and the imposition of a 
somewhat doubtful French suzerainty, the king, Behanzin, 
compelled the French to make their action more effective. A 
well-equipped expedition was sent out in 1893 under General 
Dodds, who had conducted the first operations in 1891. For 
the first time Dahome was invaded by a well-organized 
European force, and after a fierce struggle the entire kingdom 
was overrun and conquered, and the king was captured and 
sent to the West Indies. 

In the mean time, the French forces marching step by 
/ step along the upper Niger captured the important town of 
Jenne in 1893 — Jenne, the home of Nigerian civilization, and 
the mother of Timbuktu. From Jenne Colonel Archinard 
directed a march to be made to Timbuktu — ^it is said, with- 
out or contrary to orders from the Governor of Senegambia. 
Two squadrons marched overland, and a river flotilla of gun- 
boats under Commandant Boiteux steamed to the port of 



VII.] The French in West and North Africa. 131 

Timbuktu, Kabara. The flotilla of gunboats and lighters 
arrived at Kabara in advance of the military forces, and caused 
considerable perturbation in Timbuktu. The civilized in- 
habitants of the town were willing to surrender it to the 
French, only fearing their hated masters — the Tawareq. The 
Tawareq, however, hearing of the coming of the land expedi- 
tion, left the town to meet it, and the Niger being remarkably 
high, Lieutenant Boiteux was actually able to take two lighters 
armed with machine guns up the back water, which in seasons 
of flood reaches the walls of Timbuktu. After a little delibera- 
tion the town surrendered to the French. Shortly afterwards 
the Tawareq returned and attacked the naval station formed 
at Kabara on the Niger, killing a midshipman. Lieutenant 
Boiteux, hearing that firing was going on, rode out of Timbuktu 
with one other European, accompanied by his little garrison on 
foot, arrived at Kabara and routed the Tawareq. This was a 
tnily gallant action, worthy to be recorded. After standing a 
short siege in Timbuktu, and making a successful sortie, the 
little naval expedition was relieved from the anxiety of its 
position by the arrival of the first column under Colonel 
Bonnier on the 14th of January, 1894. Timbuktu was thus 
captured by the French with nineteen men, seven of whom were 
French, and the remainder Senegalese negroes. But a slight 
reverse was to follow. Over-rash, Colonel Bonnier started with 
a small force to reconnoitre the country round Timbuktu, and 
rid the neighbourhood of the Tawareq. Too confident, they 
marched into a trap. Their camp was surprised by the 
Tawareq at early dawn, and almost all the French troops were 
massacred, only three French officers and a handful of men 
escaping to tell the tale. Twenty-five days afterwards, a second 
column under Colonel Jouflfre arrived on the scene, and col- 
lected the remains of the unfortunate Frenchmen for interment 
at Timbuktu. It then set out to follow up the Tawareq, whom 
the French surprised in turn at night in their encampment^ and 
of whom Colonel JoufFre believed his soldiers to have slain 

9—2 



132 The Colonization of Africa. [Chap. 

many. From that time the French have had no serious 
fighting near Timbuktu. French merchants are estabhshed 
there already and French missionaries — the White Fathers—^ 
from Algeria. A curious episode in the French conquest was 
an appeal, when hearing of the French approach, by the 
notables of Timbuktu to the Emperor of Morocco to intervene. 
After a year's delay the Moroccan Sultan replied that upon 
receiving proofs of the vassalage of Timbuktu he would march 
upon the French and drive them away. 

Subsequently the French patrolled the Niger far to the 
south of Timbuktu, and found it much more navigable than 
they believed. They established a post at Say, and Lieutenant 
Hourst explored that small portion of the river between Say 
and Gomba which till then remained marked by dotted lines on 
the map. Numerous expeditions came across the bend of the 
Niger from its upper waters to its middle course, incessantly 
making treaties and extending the rule of France. Again, 
following on the conquest of Dahome, the French marched 
northwards across the 9th parallel, which had hitherto marked 
the limitation between the French and British possessions, and 
occupied the country of Nikki, which had previously been 
acquired for the Royal Niger Company by Major, now Colonel, 
Lugard, C.B. A bolder step still was taken by the occupation 
of Busa (already declared to be a British protectorate), at a 
time when Sir George Goldie and his forces were winning 
victories over the forces of Nupe in the vicinity. This step 
however roused such a strong expression of popular feeling in 
England that a conference was formed in Paris to negotiate a 
settlement between England and France, and eventually France 
gave way on the point of Busa, though she kept Nikki, and 
was able to extend her control of the west bank of the Niger 
to Ilo, a considerable distance below Say. She thus united 
her Dahomean conquest to the rest of her Niger empire. 
\^ Although the French empire in Africa began with a 
settlement on the Senegal, which at the end of two centuries 



SB 



VII.] The French in West and North Africa. 133 

and a half had led her to the central Niger, it was followed 
chronologically and at no great distance of time by an ambition 
to secure Madagascar as a French colony. The relations 
of France and Madagascar however will be described in 
Chapter XV. 

During the three centuries following the Turkish conquest 
of Algiers, Tunis, and Tripoli, France, like most other Chris- 
tian nations in the Mediterranean, suffered greatly at the hands 
of Moorish corsairs — suffered so much that, not being able to 
defend her own coasts sufficiently, it probably never entered 
into her head to conquer and possess the corsairs' country; 
though she tried, in rivalry with the Genoese, to obtain a 
trading and fishing station off the east Algerian coast, at 
La Calle. So far as political aspirations went, her eyes were 
turned fitfully towards Egypt. At the end of the 17th century 
Louis XIV was advised bv Leibnitz to make a descent on 
Egypt, and to hold it as a station on the way to India. 
The idea was not adopted, but lay dormant in the French 
archives, and was probably discovered there by the ministers 
of the Directory after the French Revolution. Either it 
was communicated to Napoleon Bonaparte with the idea 
of sending him off on a fooFs errand, or the notion had 
occurred to him independently as a means of striking a blow 
at the English. At any rate, with a suddenness that startled 
incredulous Europe, the Corsican General, fresh from the 
triumphs of his first Italian campaign, eluded the British fleet, 
and landed in Alexandria in 1798 with a force of 40,000 men. 
He met and defeated the Mamluk Beys, who ruled Egypt 
under Turkish suzerainty, and eventually chased them into 
Upper Egypt. He then established himself at Cairo, and 
sought to win over the Muhammadan population by professing 
more or less Muhammadan views of religion. But Nelson 
destroyed his fleet at Aboukir Bay. A Turkish army landed 
in Egypt, but was cut to pieces and driven into the sea by the 
infuriated Napoleon, who then endeavoured to conquer Syria, 



1 34 The Colonizatuni of Africa, [Chap. 

with the stupendous idea that he might carry his arms to 
Constantinople, and possibly proclaim a revival in his own 
person of the Eastern Empire. He was foiled again by the 
British, who assisted the Turks to hold Acre. Napoleon, 
though victorious elsewhere in Syria, eventually drew back 
shattered by the unsuccessful siege of this fortress. He then 
abandoned his eastern conquests with disgust, and sailed for 
France. His able lieutenant, Kleber, was assassinated. A 
British and Turkish army settled the fate of the remaining 
French forces in Egypt, who after a capitulation were sent 
back to France. But this daring inroad on the East by 
Napoleon had far-reaching effects. It brought Egypt violently 
into contact with European civilization, and prepared the way 
for its detachment from the Turkish Empire. Moreover, it 
caused France to take henceforth an acute interest in the valley 
of the Nile, an interest which on several occasions has brought 
her dangerously near rupture with a Power even more earnestly 
concerned with the Egyptian Question. 

In 1827 the Dey of Algiers, a country which remained 
under nominal Turkish suzerainty — insolent beyond measure 
in his treatment of Europeans, because hitherto all European 
states had failed to subdue his pretensions — signalised some 
difference of opinion with the French Consul by striking him 
in the face with a fly-whisk. France brooded over the insult 
for three years, when the tottering government of Charles X 
sought to prop up the Bourbon dynasty by a successful military 
expedition, and in June 1830 landed 37,000 infantry, and a 
force of cavalry and artillery at Sidi Ferruj, near Algiers. 
Considering their renown as fierce fighters, the Algerians da 
not seem to have made a very sturdy resistance ; though per- 
haps in the lapse of time since their last war with a European 
power the superiority of European arms began to be felt. At 
any rate, three weeks after the French landed they had taken 
the town of Algiers and the Dey had surrendered. A week 
afterwards the Dey was banished to Naples. Great Britain 



VII J The French in West and North Africa, 135 

then asked for information as to French projects, and was 
assured that within a very short time the French forces would 
be withdrawn when reparation had been made. But these 
assurances were as well meant and as valueless as Russian 
assurances in Central Asia, and our own repeated and un- 
solicited assurances that we hoped to be able to leave Egypt 
shortly. The government of Charles X fell, and the new 
Orleanist government could hardly draw down on itself the 
odium of a withdrawal. But an unwise policy nevertheless was 
pursued towards the Arabs, a policy dictated by ignorance. 
The inhabitants of Algeria had not taken a very strong part 
in the defence of the Dey, who in their eyes was a Turk and a 
foreigner; but when they began to realize that their country 
was about to be taken possession of by Christians, and 
Christians who at that time did nothing to soothe their 
religious susceptibilities, they found a leader in a princely 
man, Abd al Kader. From 1835 to 1837 the French sustained 
defeat after defeat at his hands. In 1837 however a truce was 
made, by which Abd al Kader was recognized by the French 
as Sultan over a large part of western and central Algeria. 
Two years after war broke out again between the French and 
Abd al Kader. An army under Marshal Bugeaud attacked 
Abd al Kader with unwavering energy — perhaps with some 
cruelty. In 1841 the national hero had lost nearly every 
point of his kingdom, and fled into Morocco, from which 
country he afterwards returned with a large army, only to be 
again and again defeated, though he occasionally inflicted 
great losses on the French. Finally, to save his own special 
district from ruin, he came to terms with the French Governor- 
General, who gave him permission to retire to Alexandria or 
Naples. But the French Government repudiated the terms 
granted to Abd al Kader, and kept him a close prisoner for 
some years in a French fortress. When Louis Napoteon 
became Emperor he released him and allowed him to live at 
Damascus, where he died in 1883. 



136 The Colonization of Africa. [Chap. 

At the time when the French invaded Algeria that country 
was by no means under a homogeneous government. There 
were the Dey of Algiers, the Dey of Oran, and on the east the 
Bey of Constantine (who ruled over much of eastern Algeria) ; 
whilst the Berber tribes in the mountains and on the verge of 
the desert were practically independent. Constantine was an 
extremely strong place, and in their first wars with its Bey the 
French failed to take it. It was not finally captured till 1847. 
By this time France had warred against Morocco, had silenced 
any attempt on the part of the " Emperor of the West " to 
interfere in the affairs of Algeria, and had overrun and to some 
degree conquered all Algeria north of the Atlas Mountains. 
Therefore, in 1848, the Government felt justified in declaring 
the new African acquisition to be French territory, divided 
into three departments, to be ruled as part of France, and to 
possess the right of representation in the French parliament. 
Under the Second Empire this constitutional government, 
which was, and is, no doubt, quite unsuited to what was fitly 
termed by Napoleon III 'an Arab kingdom,' was set aside 
in favour of military government But this was not organized 
on suitable lines, and proved a failure. In 1858 an attempt 
was made to imitate the change then taking place in the 
government of British India. An Algerian ministry was formed 
in Paris with Prince Napoleon as Minister; but this form of 
administration also was a failure, and was abolished by the 
Emperor when he returned from his visit to Algeria in 1863. 
The country was then governed by a military governor, 
generally with absolute powers, and attempts were made to 
conciliate the Kabail or Hill Berbers, whom utter mismanage- 
ment had driven into revolt The country nevertheless con- 
tinued to be afflicted with unrest, and in 1870, as the Empire 
was dying, a commission sat to inquire into the state of the 
colony, and to suggest remedies which might be applied to its 
misgovemment By a vote of the Chamber military govern- 
ment was again abolished in favour of civil rule, but owing to 



I 



^^ 



VII.] The French in West and North Africa. 137 

an insurrection in Eastern Algeria which followed on the 
Franco-German War, the recommendations of this commission 
were not fully carried out till 1879, when the first civil governor 
was appointed. One of the first acts of the new French Re- 
public at the end of 1870 was to bestow the franchise on the 
Jews of Algeria, an ill-advised action, which by discriminating 
between the Jews and Arabs has since caused a great deal of 
trouble. 

From 1848 to 1880 numerous attempts were made to 
induce French people to settle in Algeria, nor were the 
colonists of other nations discouraged. At one time young 
soldiers would be selected from the army, would be married 
to poor girls dowered by the State, and sent off to settle in 
Algeria, where they were given grants of land ; but often as j 

soon as the dowry was spent the newly-wedded wife was 
deserted by her husband, who made the best of his way back 
to France. In 187 1 nearly 11,000 natives of Alsace and 
Lorraine were granted land in Algeria, and subsequently some 
25,000 other French colonists were settled in the country at a 
cost of 15,000,000 francs. Meantime, the peace and security 
of trade introduced by the French had attracted large numbers 
of Italians and Maltese to the eastern part of Algeria, and still 
larger numbers of Spaniards to the western department of 
Oran — so much so, that even at the present day Spanish is the 
common language of Oran, and Italian is more often heard at 
Bone, Constantine, and even inland as far as Tebessa than 
French. Several thousands of Maltese also settled in eastern 
Algeria, and became naturalized as French subjects. It is 
probably that in this way Algeria will be eventually colonized 
by Europe, not by the nations of the north, but by those 
Mediterranean peoples, who are so nearly akin in blood to 
the Berber races of North Africa. The French element that 
prospers most is that drawn from the south of France. There 
has been a certain intermixture between the French and the 
native races, and between these again- and other European 



138 The Colonization of Africa^ [Chap. 

settlers. It is my opinion, based on a recent visit to Algeria, 
that a remarkable degree of fusion between these elements h 
being brought about. The Arabs and Berbers in the settled 
parts of the country are approximating more and more in their 
costume and their mode of life to the Europeans, while the 
latter, curiously enough, are becoming to some extent Arabised. 
There is scarcely an Algerian in any town who cannot talk 
French, and there is scarcely a French settler in Algeria who 
cannot talk Arabic, while among the lower classes a horrible 
jargon is springing up, in which both languages are repre- 
sented, mixed with Italian and Spanish words. 

In 1863 the Emperor Napoleon brought about the passing 
of a law which exchanged for tribal holding of land the recog- 
nition of the Arabs as individual proprietors of the soil. This 
law has to some extent broken up the Arab tribal system, has 
corrected their nomad tendencies, and has done much to settle 
them on the soil with loyalty to the existing government Of 
course, outside the relatively well-watered, fertile districts the 
nature of the country induces a wandering life amongst the 
sparse population, and here a warlike spirit still shows itself 
from time to time in revolts of ever diminishing extent. 
During the '8o's the French were obliged to bring large forces 
into the field to suppress a serious insurrection under Bu 
Amama, a leader who represented the more or less Arab tribes 
inhabiting the steppe country far to the south of Oran, on the 
borders of Morocco. Their turbulence was only finally subdued 
by the building of a railway in the heart of their country. 

Of late the Jewish question has given trouble. The Jews, 
equally with the Christians in Algeria, are electors, while this 
privilege is granted to only a few Arab proprietors. As in 
Tunis, the Jews are terribly given to usury, and they are hated 
in Algeria with an intensity which is but little understood in 
England, where the Jews are scarcely to be distinguished from 
other subjects of the Crown in their demeanour or practices. 
But the fact is that parliamentary government, so far as Algeria 



VII.] The French in West and North Africa, 139 

is concerned, is a cruel farce. That country should be 
governed exactly on the lines of British India, and it would 
then attain a very high degree of prosperity, an,d cease to be 
a charge on the French exchequer. 

The patent example of the success of this system is to be 
seen in the adjoining country of Tunis, which under the fiction 
of an Arab Sovereignty is governed despotically, ably, wisely, 
and well by a single Frenchman. Tunis, which, like Algeria 
and Tripoli, had since the close of the i6th century been more 
or less a Turkish dependency — that is to say, a country 
governed at first by Turkish ofiUcers, who finally became 
quasi-independent rulers, with a recognized hereditary descent 
— soon began to feel the results of the conquest of Algeria in 
an increase of interest felt by the French regarding its condi- 
tion. At first the relations between France and Tunis were 
flattering to the latter country. The relatively enlightened 
character of the Husseinite Beys was recognized, and when 
France was in diflficulties with Abd al Kader and the Bey of 
Constantine proposals were even made to Tunis to supply 
from its ruling family two or three princes who should be made 
Beys of Constantine and Oran under French protection ; but 
the idea was not carried out. In 1863 the Bey of Tunis went 
in state to visit the Emperor Napoleon at Algiers. Neverthe- 
less, during the ^50's and '6o's Great Britain firmly main- 
tained the independence of Tunis, at whose court she was 
represented for many years by a sage diplomatist, Sir Richard 
Wood. The disenchantment which Algeria caused in the 
early '6o's diminished the interest which France felt in 
Tunis, and during this time, under the fostering care of Sir 
Richard Wood, British enterprise had acquired so large a hold 
over the Regency, that at the beginning of the '70's it 
would have been reasonable to have extended British protec- 
tion to the Bey. But another factor had come into play — the 
newly-formed Power of United Italy. The finances of Tunis 
had from the time of the Crimean War. onwards got into a 



140 The Colonization of Africa, [Chap. 

disarray resembling in a minor degree the condition of Egypt 
under Ismail. Not only was the Bey extravagant; but still 
worse, his ministers, mostly of servile origin, robbed the 
country shamelessly, and loans were obtained over and over 
again merely to swell their ill-gotten gains. At last the Powers 
had to intervene, and in 1869 the finances of Tunis were brought 
under the control of a tripartite commission with representa- 
tives of England, France, and Italy. During the early '70*3, 
however, British commercial interest waned, and the enterprise 
of France increased, with the result that France obtained per- 
mission to erect telegraphs, and took over an important railway 
concession which had been accepted and then abandoned by a 
British firm. It was becoming obvious that the native govern- 
ment of Tunis could not continue much longer without a 
definite European protector. Whatever right England may 
have had to assume such a position, she quietly surrendered 
it to France through her official representatives at the Con- 
gress of Berlin. The only other rival then was Italy, and 
Italy, though she would have dearly liked to resume control 
in the name of Rome over the Roman province of Africa, 
shrank from the danger of thus defying France. A small 
British railway which had been made from the town of Tunis 
to the port of Goletta was sold to an Italian company in i88i^ 
At the same time, a British subject, really acting as a repre- 
sentative of the Tunisian Government, attempted on a point of 
law to prevent a very large estate in the interior of Tunis from 
falling into French hands. The French Government de- 
termined to delay action no longer. Taking advantage of the 
very insufficient plea, that a Tunisian tribe had committed 
small robberies across the Algerian frontier, a strong force 
invaded Tunis, and wrung from the Bey in his suburban 
palace the treaty of Kasr-es-Said, by which he placed his 

^ This now forgotten bone of contention has, in the autumn of 1898, 
been sold by the Italian Company to the French Railway Company of 
B6ne-Guelma-et-Tunisie. 



VII.] Tlie French in West and North Africa, 141 

territories under French protection. When the news spread 
into outlying districts there were uprisings against the French 
or against the Bey's government which had placed the country 
under French control. The French troops had practically to 
conquer much of the South of Tunis, but in a year's time 
tranquillity had been restored. In 1883 the treaty of Kasr-es- 
Said was replaced by another agreement which brought the 
Tunisian Government under complete French control. In 
this year the other Powers surrendered their consular jurisdic- 
tion, and recognized that of the French courts. By 1897 all 
former commercial treaties with the Bey were abandoned in 
favour of fresh conventions made with France. From the 
commencement of 1898, Tunis has become emphatically an 
integral portion of the French Empire. 

Through accident or design — let us hope the latter — a 
succession of able men was appointed to direct the affairs of 
France in Tunis. Several of these had a relatively long tenure 
of power, and were therefore able to carry out a continuous 
policy. Ablest amongst these French residents have been 
M. Cambon, and M. Millet. Tunis hitherto has been the 
one example of almost unqualified success in French colonial 
administration. Of late, however, the protectionist policy 
which finds favour with the French Government has to some 
extent striven to secure the commerce of the Regency for 
France, a policy which may tend to qualify the praise which 
otherwise would be bestowed on the remarkable development 
of the country under French direction. 

The extension of Senegal under General Faidherbe, and 
the occupation by the French of oases in the Sahara, such as 
Wargla and Golea, early suggested an overland connection 
between the two French possessions, and the '* Chemin de fer 
Trans-Saharien '' was hinted at, half in joke, during the 
'6o's and became a subject of serious consideration in the 
'70's. But in 1 881 the massacre of the Flatters expedition 
in the Sahara Desert, and the obvious hostility of the Tawareq 



142 The Colonization of Africa, [Chap. 

to any further advance of the French across the desert tempo- 
rarily discouraged the idea ; though the main discouragement 
no doubt arose from the thought of the enormous cost of 
such a railway, and the unfruitful character of the country it 
would traverse. Still France, when the word "hinterland" 
was creeping into political terminology, began to feel anxious 
that no other European Power should intervene between her 
North African possessions and her empire on the Niger, and 
in 1890 she secured from the British Government a recognition 
of this important point, the British recognition carrying the 
French sphere of influence to the north-western coast of 
Lake Chad as well as to the Niger. But the ambition of 
France had already leapt beyond Nigeria to Congoland, and a 
still wider project fascinated her imagination of a continuous 
French empire from the Mediterranean to the Upper Congo 
and the south Atlantic. On what may be called the ^ Congo 
Coast," or Lower Guinea, France had secured a footing as 
early as 1839, at the time when the government of Louis 
Philippe was making half-hearted efforts to found French 
settlements on the West Coast of Africa. At this date King 
* Denis' of the Gaboon, who had shown favour to Roman 
Catholic missionaries and to French traders, was induced to 
transfer his kingdom to France. Effective possession was not 
however taken till 1844, and Libreville, the present capital, 
was not founded till 1848, when a cargo of slaves was landed 
there from a captured slaving vessel and set free to commence 
the population of the new town. Attention was drawn to this 
French settlement by the remarkable journeys of Paul du 
Chailluy and his making definitely known the existence of the 
largest known anthropoid ape, the gorilla. The existence of 
this ape had been to some extent established by the American 
naturalist, Dr Savage, and from skulls sent home by American 
missionaries settled on the Gaboon ; but the gorilla was 
scarcely made known in all its characteristics, and certainly 
was not known to the general public, until Du Chaillu came 



VII.] TIu French in West and North Africa, 143 

to England with his specimens*. In the early '6o's French 
explorers established the existence of half the course of the 
important river Ogowd, and in the '70's these explorations 
were extended by other travellers, who carried the knowledge 
of the Ogowd to the limits of its watershed, and passed 
beyond — unknowingly—to affluents of the Congo. Among 
these explorers was the celebrated Savbrgnan de Brazza. 

Pohtical interest in the Gaboon languished so much 
on the part of France that the country was once or twice 
offered to England in exchange for the Gambia. However in 
1880, the awakening desire to found a great colonial empire 
urged France to extend her Gaboon possessions up the coast, 
towards the Cameroons, and southward in the direction of the i 
mouth of that great river, the Congo, the course of which ^ 
Mr Stanley had just succeeded in tracing. Even before 
Stanley's return, the King of the Belgians had summoned a 
number of geographers to Brussels to discuss the possibility of 
civilizing Africa by an International African association. This 
conference brought about the creation of national committees, 
which were to undertake on behalf of each participating nation 
a section of African exploration. The French committee sent 
De Brazza to explore the hinterland of the Gaboon. While 
Stanley was commencing his second Congo expedition for the 
King of the Belgians and slowly working his way up the lower 
river, De Brazza had made a rapid journey overland to Stanley 
Pool and the upper Congo, making treaties for France and 
planting the French flag wherever he went. Soon afterwards 
an English missionary, Mr Grenfell, discovered the course of 
the great Ubangi, and French explorers promptly directed their 
steps thither. For some years there was keen and even bitter 
rivalry between Mr Stanley's expedition, which gradually 
became a Belgian enterprise, and the French explorers under 
De Brazza j and when, at the Conference of Berlin in 1884 — 5, 
it was sought to create the Congo Free State under the 

^ Now in the British Museum. 

\ 



/ 



( 



144 Tf^ Colonization of Africa, [Chap. 

sovereignty of the King of the Belgians, the adhesion of France 
to this scheme could only be obtained by handing over to her 
much of the western and northern watershed of the Congo, 
besides giving her a promise that if the Congo State were ever 
to be transferred from the Belgian sovereign to another Power, 
France should have the right of preemption. Before the 
French had been many years on the Ubangi River, which is 
one of the rare means of communication between the southern 
half of Africa, which is Bantu, and the northern half, which is 
populated by non-Bantu Negroes, Negroids, Hamites, and 
Semites, they had very naturally conceived the idea of pushing 
northwards to the Shari river and Lake Chad. In 1890 Paul 
Crampel was the first European to cross this mysterious Bantu 
boundary, to leave the forest regions of the Congo, and enter 
the more open park lands of the central Sudan. But he was 
attacked and killed by suspicious Muhammadan raiders on the 
river Shari. Another Frenchman, of Polish descent, M. 
Dybowski, succeeded in chastising the murderers of Crampel, 
and further exploring the Shari. Another mission under Lieu- 
tenant Maistre succeeded Dybowski, and was in turn succeeded ■ 
by a mission led 'by the explorer Gentil, which is said to have 
succeeded in placing a small armed steamer on the river 
Shari, and thence to have reached the waters of Lake Chad. 

By an agreement with Germany, France has secured 
German recognition of her sphere of influence over the river 
Shari, over the Bagirmi country, and the southern shores of 
Lake Chad; while by a treaty made with the King of the 
Belgians in 1894 the Belgian boundary line is drawn at the 
Ubangi, the Mbomu and the Nile watershed. Lastly by 
the Anglo-French convention of June 1898, Great Britain has 
recognized the French sphere on the southern and eastern 
shores of Lake Chad. Thus France will have a continuous 
empire stretching from Algiers to the Congo Coast, a strange 
development of the landing of 37,000 troops at the Bay of 
Sidi Ferruj, near Algiers, in the summer of 1830. 



I 



FRENCH AFRICA 



< 




Sir SEJoSbBatan. KjC3 . lil^ 



EXPLANATORY NOTE 

\Area of French Possessions in 1880 

[^ _J ,, ,, Colonies i Protectorates ^ and 

Spheres ofinfltunce in i8g8 



B««duJa i» — ' . Mui^ 



VII.] The French in West and North Africa, 145 

Even this extension is not sufficient for French ambition, 
and there has been talk in France of extending her Central 
African possessions eastward across the Nile valley to Abyssinia 
and the Gulf of Aden. French newspapers alternately treat 
the country jof Abyssinia as a future French protectorate and a 
great independent African empire under a most enlightened 
sovereign, who is to direct his powers and conquests to the 
detriment of England and Italy. French designs on Shoa, to 
the south of Abyssinia, are not of very recent date. In 1857 
France had intended to seize the island of Perim, at the mouth 
of the Red Sea, but was forestalled by the British. She there- 
fore turned her attention to the coast opposite Aden, and there 
purchased from a native chief the Bay of Obok. This place 
was not effectively occupied till 1883, after the break-up of the 
Egyptian Sudan empire. France then rapidly pushed her 
possessions southward to curtail as much as possible similar 
British operations in Somaliland. She thus secured the im- 
portant bay of Tajurra. French territory now stretches inland 
to the vicinity of Harrar. On the north she is bounded, 
somewhat vaguely, by the Italian colony of Eritrea, but in the 
interior her boundary with Abyssinia remains undefined. 

With the exception of Tunis, there is not a single French 
possession in Africa which is self-supporting, or other than a 
drain on the French exchequer. The reasons of this lack of 
local revenue are the strong protectionist policy pursued (which 
fetters trade and drives away commercial enterprise) and the 
unnecessary multiplication of officials. 



J. A. 10 



CHAPTER VIII. 



CHRISTIAN MISSIONS. 



If I were writing this little work for dramatic effect and 
less with a view to historical sequence, I should have been 
disposed to put this chapter next to the one dealing with the 
slave trade, as an effective pendant ; for if Europe has dealt 
wickedly in enslaving Africa, she has sent thither a high-minded 
army of men, acting nearly always from noble and unselfish 
motives, to raise the African from his brutish ignorance to a 
glimpse of better things. And as England was the greatest 
sinner anlongst all white peoples in the thoroughness with 
which she prosecuted the slave trade, she deserves credit on 
the other hand for a degree of missionary effort far surpassing 
that attributable to any other nation. 

The Portuguese were the first among us to send mission- 
aries to Africa, and their zeal was great, and, with one or two 
exceptions, wholly praiseworthy. Portuguese priests and 
Jesuits accompanied most of the early expeditions to Africa ; 
in fact hardly any explorer or conquistador sailed without 
chaplains in his company, who raised the cross and preached 
Christianity as soon as they set foot on shore. In my chapter 
on the Portuguese in Africa I have touched upon the intro- 
duction of Christianity into Congoland in 149 1. Unfortunately, 
any race of purely Negro blood accepts and loses Christianity 
with great facility. The Negro (unless he be Muhammadanized) 



Chap, viil] Christian Missions, 147 

is easily converted, and as easily relapses into gross super- 
stition or a negation of all religion, including his former simple 
but sound ideas of right and wrong. That Christianity may 
become permanently rooted in a Negro race it is necessary 
that it be maintained by a higher power for a long period as 
the religion of the State. The Negro kingdoms which have 
retained their independence have usually lost their Christianity 
in a recognizable form. It is not so with Muhammadanism, 
the explanation being that Muhammadanism as taught to the 
Negro demands no sacrifice of his bodily lusts, whereas 
Christianity with its restrictions ends by boring him, unless 
and until his general mental condition by individual genius or 
generations of transmitted culture, reaches the average level of 
the European. As instances of the former, one might mention 
some ten or a dozen individuals living at the present time, 
who are priests and deacons of Christianity in Africa, while 
for examples of permanently rooted Christianity as the result 
of inheritance it is only necessary to point to the thousands 
of really good Negro men and women to be found in the 
United States and the British West Indies. Portugal, how- 
ever, never attempted to rule the Kingdom of the Congo 
till a few years ago \ so after a century's work the Ba-kongo 
fell away from Christianity, and in another hundred years 
had absolutely relapsed into Heathenism, and expelled all the 
priests. 

Jesuit priests also accompanied Portuguese conquerors to 
the Zambezi and the south-east of Africa. Here they met 
with relatively little success, though they left their traces on 
Zambezia in the most marked manner by founding a settle- 
ment high up the Zambezi and even establishing stations 
beyond in the little known Batoka country, where their 
presence is attested to this day by the groves of fruit trees 
which they introduced. Tete, the modern capital of Portu- 
guese Zambezia, also began as a missionary station. Else- 
where, in Portuguese East Africa, the priests had very little 

10 — 2 



148 The Colonization of Africa. [Chap. 

success, as Muhammadanism had already got a hold. Indeed 
the first missionary explorer of Zambezia, who visited the 
court of the King of Monomotapa, was martyred there at the 
instigation of the Arabs ^ 

Portuguese priests also travelled over Ab}'ssinia during two 
centuries after the Portuguese discovery of that country at the 
end of the 15th century. Christian Abyssinia — the most 
probable origin of the myth of the Kingdom of Prester John — 
attracted a good deal of attention from Portugal since she 
commenced her exploration of the outer world. But the 
Portuguese priests were quite unsuccessful in converting the 
Abyssinians from their debased form of Greek Christianity to 
the Roman Catholic Church, and after bitter quarrels with the 
native clergy these missionaries had been either killed or 
expelled from the country by 1633. 

Spanish, Portuguese, and Italian priests vainly attempted 
at different times to convert the Moors of North Africa. 
Finding this a hopeless task, they directed their efforts towards 
relieving the sufferings of the unfortunate Christian captives of 
the Barbary pirates, and practically continued their work down 
to the French occupation of Algeria. 

The Protestant peoples did little in the way of missionary 
work in Africa till quite the end of the i8th century ; though 
the good Huguenots, who went out to South Africa a hundred 
years before, endeavoured, somewhat to the surprise of the 
Dutch, to treat the Hottentots as fellow men fitted for 
baptism; and the Moravians attracted by the Hottentots 
began evangelizing work at the Cape of Good Hope in 1732. 

Wesleyan missionary work was begun at Sierra Leone coin- 
cidently with the establishment of that place as a settlement 
for freed slaves in 1787. The London Missionary Society was 
founded in 1795, and the Edinburgh Missionary Society in 
1 796 ; the Glasgow Missionary Society soon afterwards. By the 

^ Gon9alo de Silveira; killed somewhere to the south-west of Tete 
about 1565. 



VIII.] Christian Missions, 149 

end of the i8th century these three bodies had sent out 
missionaries to Sierra Leone and the adjoining Susu country. 
In 1 82 1 the Glasgow Missionary Society sent the first Presby- 
terian missionaries to South Africa. The Church Missionary 
Society was founded in 1799. It sent missionaries to Sierra 
Leone, and after a long interval extended its operations to 
Lagos and the Niger Delta, where it is still the leading 
Christian mission. In the '40's of this century this mission 
began to consider the possibility of evangelizing East Africa. 
In common with other English missionary societies at that 
time, and for reasons not very clear to me, it preferred to 
employ German evangelists, though from the results achieved 
few can find fault with the choice made. The Church 
Missionary Society introduced to us men of the stamp of 
Krapf and Rebmann. Dr Ludwig Krapf is justly a great 
name in African exploration, Afiican philology, and African 
Christianity. Despatched by the Church Missionary Society 
to prospect Abyssinia in 1840, he was obliged to decide, after 
disappointing experiences, that there was no field there for 
Protestant Christianity, and therefore directed his steps to the 
Zanzibar coast. Being a tactful man, and meeting with kind- 
ness at the hands of Sayyid Sa'id, the * Sultan ' of Zanzibar S 
he established himself at Mombasa, and there founded the 
work of the Church Missionary Society, which endures and 
prospers to this day. Dr Krapf will also be referred to in 
the chapter on explorers. The Church Missionary Society 
educated the first Protestant Negro bishop' in the person of 
Samuel Crowther of the Niger. Its work met with some 
success on the West Coast of Africa as regards the number of 

^ At that time the chief Arab ruler of Zanzibar was only known as 
* Sayyid ' (Lord) ; not as Sultan. 

^ The Portuguese Church had produced the first Roman Catholic 
Negro Bishop, in the i6th century. He was Bishop of the Congo, was a 
member of the Royal family of Congo, and was educated at Lisbon and 
Rome. 



150 The Colonization of Africa, [Chap. 

adherents ; but, like most Christian missions, it has not 
achieved rapid progress in more or less Muhammadanized 
East Africa. This mission stands out conspicuous for the 
magnificent philological work done by its agents in Africa: 
especially notable among whom have been Dr S. W. Koelle, 
Mr Reichart, the Rev. James Frederic Schon, Bishop Crowther, 
Krapf, Rebmann, and J. T. Last. 

The Wesleyan Methodist Missionary Society was founded 
in 1813, and devoted its first efforts to South Africa, Nama- 
qualand, and Kaffraria. The Primitive Methodist Society was 
started in 1843, and commenced the evangelization of 
Fernando Po. They also went at the same time to South 
Africa. The prospects of this mission in Fernando Po were 
affected by the resumption of the administration of that island 
by the Spanish Government, which at that time discounten- 
anced Protestant missions in its territory. Some arrangement 
was come to, however, and the mission still continues to work 
there, and to work at the present time without any very 
marked restriction. 

The Society for the Propagation of the Gospel became a 
distinctly missionary body in 182 1, and worked chiefly in 
South Afiica. Roman Catholic missions entered North Africa 
soon after the conquest of Algeria. Lyons, in France, became 
a great centre of missionary activity. It is the head-quarters 
at the present day of a powerful French Roman Catholic 
Missionary Society — that of the Holy Ghost and of the 
Sacred Heart of Mary — which of recent years has been doing 
a very great work in Portuguese Angola and on the coast 
region of the Congo, and also in Senegambia and German 
East Africa. In 1846 missionary enterprise in Roman Catholic 
Austria decided to take advantage of Muhammad Ali's 
conquest of the Sudan to push its way into the heart of Africa 
through Egypt. In 1846 these Austrian Catholic missionaries 
chose Cairo as their starting point, and this mission continued 
to work in the Eg3rptian Sudan until the recent uprising of the 



viil] Christian Missions. 151 

Mahdists. Most of the readers of this book will have remem- 
bered the adventures of Father Ohrwalder and the nuns who 
escaped from the clutches of the Khalifah several years ago. 
This mission, amongst other philological studies, illustrated 
the interesting Bari language of the upper White Nile, and 
did excellent work in countries so remote as Kordofan and 
Senar. Italian priests — ^before the disasters which befell the 
colonial enterprise of Italy — worked amongst the Gallas of 
Abyssinia. 

In 1878 the late Cardinal Lavigerie having started the 
Mission of the White Fathers, which was to convert the Sudan 
and all Congoland to Christianity, Pope Leo XIII gave them a 
rescript directing them to evangelize all Central Africa. They 
had settled in Tunis (as well as in Algeria), on the Congo, on 
Tanganyika, and in West Africa (Senegambia), and finally they 
directed their energies towards Uganda shortly after the 
Church Missionary Society had established itself in that 
country. Cardinal Lavigerie was a modem type of prelate, 
given to somewhat noisy declamation, who posed as the 
denunciator of slavery and the slave trade without ever making 
any personal acquaintance with its horrors. He endeavoured 
to obtain in the Roman Catholic world the glory of a Living- 
stone without going through Livingstone's hardships. More- 
over, hand in hand with his desire to spread religion amongst 
Arabs, Berbers and Negroes was an equally ardent desire to 
make them at the same time French or French-protected 
subjects. His strong political bias has somewhat discoloured 
his strenuous efforts for the evangelization of Africa, since his 
work is now seen to have been by no means disinterested. 
No doubt — ^as our foreign critics point out — British missionaries 
often come as precursors to British rule; but they do so 
unconsciously, and indeed frequently prove inconvenient 
champions of native independence. But the missionaries of 
Cardinal Lavigerie's order aimed at advancing the political inte- 
rests of France almost before they had secured the conversion 



152 The Colonization of Africa. [Chap. 

of their pupils, and this somewhat detracts from their value 
as missionaries of Christianity. The determined hostility 
shown by these men to the British protectorate over Uganda 
ended in their withdrawal from the country, and the trans- 
ference of their work to Irish Roman Catholics, under whom it 
has made favourable progress. The White Fathers wear an 
Arab costume — a red fez and a long white cassock tied 
round the waist with a girdle. Their churches and schools 
are not unfrequently built in a Moorish style of architecture. 
It was Cardinal Lavigerie's idea that an approximation in 
dress and architecture to the Arabs might induce that people 
to give a hearing to his propagandists. 

About eighteen years ago the Jesuits decided to resume 
their work on the Zambezi, which had been interrupted 
for more than a century by native troubles and by the 
expulsion of the Jesuits from the Portuguese dominions by 
the orders of the Marquez de Pombal. At first the efforts 
of the Jesuits resulted in utter disaster. They established 
themselves on the upper Zambezi, in the Batoka country, 
near the Victoria Falls, and all those who did not die of 
fever were massacred by the Batoka. Then they restricted 
their efforts to the vicinity of the Portuguese settlements 
at Zumbo and Tete and at Boroma. Near the last-named 
place they have a most prosperous and well-conducted 
establishment where a good technical education is given to 
the negroes of the Zambezi. At the invitation of the Portu- 
guese Government they directed their attention to Nyasaland, 
but their establishment there being sacked and burned by 
Muhammadan Yaos, they retired from work in that direction. 
They have subsequently established mission stations in 
Mashonaland, besides resuming work in Madagascar. 

Roman Catholic missionaries met with but poor success in 
Madagascar until French influence became dominant there 
a few years ago. The priests who attempted repeatedly to 
establish themselves on the coast of Madagascar in the early 



VIII.] Christian Missions. 153 

days of French colonial experiments either died from fever or 
were killed by the natives. The. Jesuits who proceeded to the 
Hova Plateau during the '6o's of this century, and who 
were maintained there by subsidies granted by the French 
Imperial Government, met with so little success that they 
almost abandoned their work. At the present time, however, 
being strongly supported by the government of this French 
colony, they are obtaining an ascendant over the Protestants. 

Protestant missionary work, chiefly conducted by the London 
Missionary Society, and subsequently by the Quakers and the 
Norwegians, began in Madagascar in 18 18. The missionaries 
of the London Missionary Society met with great success in 
converting the natives of Madagascar to an undenominational 
form of Protestant Christianity, but their efforts were suddenly 
checked by the reactionary policy of Queen Ranavalona I, 
who persecuted and killed the native Christians, and com- 
pelled the missionaries to leave the island in 1836. After 
various attempts — which proved futile — to come to an under- 
standing with the old heathen queen, the Protestant 
missionaries returned in full force at her death, and since that 
time until the French annexation of the island they may be 
said to have converted the mass of the Hovas to Christianity, 
and to have established a strong Protestant native Church in 
friendly co-operation with the Anglicans, who, under a Bishop 
of Madagascar, became established in the island from 1863 
onwards. 

The London Missionary Society, which has done such a 
striking work in Madagascar, and which was the pioneer 
missionary society in South Africa, was attracted to the open 
field of Tanganyika at the time when the Church Missionary / 
Society, stirred up by Stanley's appeal, sent its emissaries to ' 
Uganda. The first missionaries of the London Missionary 
Society, crossing Tanganyika from east to west, made their 
first establishment on the Kavala islet on the west coast By 
means of the African Lakes Company of Nyasa, they conveyed 



154 T^^ Colonization of Africa, [Chap. 

a steamer in sections to the waters of Tanganyika, a steamer 
which has plied successfully on the lake since it was launched 
in 1885. Subsequently, however, the London Missionary 
Society retired from those parts of Tanganyika under foreign 
flags, and directed their attention to the south shore of the 
lake, which was placed under British protection by the author 
of this book in 1889. 

A Swiss Protestant mission was founded at Basel in 181 5, 
and soon afterwards commenced work on the Gold Coast, a 
work which produced the most remarkable and beneficial 
results in the industrial training of thousands of Gold Coast 
natives, enabling them thus to earn good wages and to ful&l 
many of the tasks hitherto assigned to Europeans. The 
Basel mission is now established in the adjoining German 
territories of Togoland. The Moravian Protestant Missionary 
Society was founded as far back as 1732, and sent out, I 
believe, the first trained Christian missionaries to South Africa. 
At the present day this mission has flourishing establishments in 
that part of the continent. The Berlin Missionary Society was 
founded in 1823, the Rhenish Missionary Society in 1829, 
and the North German (Bremen) Society in 1836. The two 
first named German Protestant missions directed their atten- 
tions to Damaraland, and to the Hottentot country in South- 
West Africa. The Bremen Mission sent its agents chiefly to 
West Africa. Several of these societies, togetlier with the 
Moravians, have established mission stations in German 
Nyasaland, to the north of Lake Nyasa. A Bavarian Roman 
Catholic mission has commenced work in the coast regions of 
German East Africa. 

The French Evangelical Church began its important 
missionary work in Africa as far back as 1829. Its agents — 
noted almost universally for their single-minded earnestness 
and dissociation from all attempts to procure political influ- 
ence — have made remarkable progress in Christianizing 
Basutoland, and other adjoining Bechuana peoples in South 



viii.] Christian Missions, 155 

Africa. Following the Bechuana race movements, they were 
gradually directed to the Upper Zambezi, and to the Barotse 
Kingdom. Here, under the distinguished leadership of M. 
Coillard, they have carried out a work of civilization amongst 
the Barotse deserving of the highest praise, though they have 
suffered severe losses amongst their agents by ill-health. 
Sweden, not to be behind other Protestant states, founded a 
missionary society in the early part of this century, which 
devoted itself to the still unoccupied field of Gallaland, 
attacking this country, however, rather from the Abyssinian 
side than from the East Coast of Africa, whence it is easier 
penetrated at the present day. Though the work of this 
society resulted in important additions to our philological 
knowledge, its efforts to propagate Christianity amongst the 
Gallas — who were either obstinate Muhammadans or equally 
obstinate Pagans — ^were unsuccessful. The Free Swiss Church 
has sent missionaries amongst the Basuto in South Africa. 
The Dutch Reformed Church has done a good deal of 
missionary work in South Africa, and of late in Nyasaland. 
The American Presbyterian Church started an African 
missionary society in 1831 and sent its emissaries to Liberia, 
where it has many adherents. 

British Presb)rterians have established several important 
missionary bodies. The earliest (among existing societies) to 
commence work was the United Presbyterian Church of Scot- 
land, which established a mission at Old Calabar, on the West 
Coast of Africa, in 1846, and has since made great progress in 
converting the natives of Old Calabar and the Cross River to 
Christianity and a certain degree of civilization. It is mainly 
owing to the work of this mission that Old Calabar has become 
an important centre for European enterprise, and the capital of 
the Niger Coast Protectorate. The Edinburgh and Glasgow 
Missionary Societies of the early part of this century, which 
sent out missionaries to South Africa, were dissolved, and took 
shape in other forms as the foreign missions of the Free Church 



156 The Colonization of Africa, [Chap. 

of Scotland, and the Established Church of Scotland, llie 
former, which was organized in the '50's, established strong 
missions in South Africa, and there founded the educationary 
establishment of Lovedale, whence nmny hundreds of South 
African negroes have gone out into the world with a practical 
education. When Livingstone had directed attention to the 
Zambezi the Free Church of Scotland thought of establishing 
a mission there, but after the report of its commissioner 
decided that the time was not come for such an enterprise. 
But in 1875, after Livingstone's death, the Free Kirk sent out 
an expedition to Nyasaland for the establishment of a mission, 
which now has stations all along the west coast of that lake\ 
The Established Church of Scotland followed suit in 1876, 
when a settlement was made on the Shir^ Highlands, to the 
south of Lake Nyasa, and the head-quarters of the mission 
was styled "Blantyre" after the little town in Lanarkshire 
where Livingstone was born. Blantyre is now in many re- 
spects the principal town in the British Central Africa 
Protectorate. 

The Norwegian Church sent out missionaries to Zululand 
(1842) and to Madagascar in later years. 

Besides the American Presbyterian mission in Liberia, 
other American missionaries (Baptists, Episcopal Methodists, 
undenominational) settled in the Gaboon and on the coast 
between the Cameroons and that French colony, on the 
Congo, in Angola, and, above all, on the highlands of Bihe, 
behind Benguela. Among the agents of these American 
missions, remarkable for the linguistic work they have done in 
African languages, were the Rev. J. L. Wilson, who, together 
with Preston and Best, wrote on the languages of the Gaboon 
coast ; Dr Sims, who has compiled the most valuable vocabu- 
laries of Congo languages ; Mr Heli Chatelain, whose work in 

^ The same body has also established an industrial mission (initiated by 
Dr James Stewart, the founder of Lovedale) in British East Africa, half- 
way to Uganda. 



VIII.] Christian Missions, 157 

connection with the Angola language is of exceptional value ; 
and lastly, the Rev. W. M. Stover, who has ably illustrated the 
Bihe language. 

Besides the Church Missionary Society, the Anglican 
Church has been represented in Africa by the well-known 
"Universities' Mission" founded in 1856 as the result of an 
appeal by Livingstone to the universities of Oxford and 
Cambridge. Just as the Church Missionary Society is mainly 
supported by the Evangelical side of the English Church, so 
the Universities' Mission is the outcome of the missionary 
enterprise of the High Church party. Its first establishment 
in Nyasaland under Livingstone was unfortunate, and resulted 
in the death of Bishop Mackenzie (the first missionary bishop 
of Central Afiica) and most of the missionaries with him. 
His successor, Bishop Tozer, resolved to suspend work in 
Nyasaland, and concentrate the efforts of the mission upon 
Zanzibar, which thenceforward became its principal seat in 
Africa; but later on, when he was succeeded by Bishop Steere, 
another effort was made to reach Nyasa. From the beginning 
of the '8o*s to the present day, though at times much 
harassed by the Muhammadan Yaos, this mission has taken a 
firm hold in Nyasaland, besides establishing and maintaining 
a number of mission stations in German East Africa. In 
Nyasaland it occupies chiefly the east coast of the Lake, and 
has one station on the west coast, having chosen to work 
mainly among those populations which have been to some 
degree under Arab or Yao influence. To this mission is due 
the erection of a fine cathedral at Zanzibar, and much valuable 
linguistic work on the part of the late Bishop Steere, 
Mr Madan, and the late Bishop of Likoma (better known 
as Archdeacon Chauncey Maples'). 

The Plymouth Brethren have established a mission in 
South-Central Africa, across the Zambezi-Congo water-parting. 

1 Who worked for many years in Nyasaland and in East Africa, and 
was drowned, unhappily, in Lake Nyasa in 1895. 



158 The Colonization of Africa. [Chap. 

The English Baptists organized a missionary society early 
in the century, and sent out missionaries as far back as 1840 
to Fernando Po. Owing to their expulsion from the island by 
the Spanish Government, they moved across to the Cameroons, 
where they established the flourishing settlement of Ambas 
Bay, and made English almost the second language of the 
Cameroons people. The splendid work of this mission in the 
Cameroons was chiefly done under the late Edward Saker, 
whose name is still venerated on the Cameroons river for the 
great good that he did to the country by spreading the know- 
ledge of many useful arts and industries and educating the 
Duala people to a remarkable degree. From the Cameroons 
the mission, under the guidance of the Rev. Thomas ComSer 
and the Rev. Holman Bentley, moved on to the Congo S where 
this Baptist mission now has numerous stations. One of its 
missionaries, the Rev. H. Grenfell, made himself famous by 
discovering the great Ubangi river, the most important of the 
Congo tributaries, and known in its upper waters as the Welle. 
The linguistic work done by this mission was important, and 
included an illustration of the language of Fernando Po by 
Mr John Clarke, a like service rendered to the Duala language 
of the Cameroons by Mr Saker, and a valuable Congo dic- 
tionary and grammar by the Rev. H. Bentley. 

Finally, Plymouth Brethren and other English Protestants 
of different denominations organized Protestant missionary 
enterprise in North Africa into the " North African Mission,'' 
established in 1886. This mission has numerous representa- 
tives in Morocco, Algeria, Tunis, Tripoli, and Egypt. As it 
devotes itself mainly to the conversion of Muhammadans, it 
has had but slight success at present 

The Scotch Baptists established a mission in Nyasaland 
and in the south-western part of the British Central Africa 

^ It quitted the Cameroons altogether soon after the establishment of 
the German colony, the Geirman Government having expropriated most of 
its establishments. 



VIII.] Christian Missions. 159 

Protectorate, and also on the Zambezi in 1895. There, also, 
is the Zambezi Industrial Mission (undenominational), which 
was founded in 1893, and which endeavours to be self-support- 
ing by its industrial work. A few American missionaries have 
attempted setdement in the Portuguese possessions on the 
South-east coast of Africa, and there are of course unattached 
missionaries carrying on work on their own account and 
without being connected with any special society. 

The only Christian state which existed in Africa before the 
beginning of European colonization was Abyssinia, which is to 
some degree dependent on the Coptic Church in Egypt, and 
is in communion with the Greek Church. Christianity is said 
to have been introduced here in the 4th century. The 
Abyssinians have usually resented the arrival of Roman 
Catholic missionaries, and have not shown much greater 
encouragement to emissaries from Protestant Churches. Abys- 
sinian Christianity is, as might be imagined, so degraded and 
mixed up with fetishism that it is difficult to recognize it as a 
branch of the Christian faith which is the religion of so much 
of Europe and America. Russia has of late been much con- 
cerned at the spiritual darkness prevailing in Abyssinia, and 
has endeavoured to send thither missionaries from the Greek 
Church, the domain of which she identifies with her own 
empire. But these have been propagandists of a singularly 
military type — wolves in sheep's clothing, if one may commit 
oneself to rather a strong metaphor — and hardly to be classed 
with the unarmed emissaries of Christianity, who, on behalf of 
the Roman Catholic and Protestant Christians of Europe and 
America, have striven usually with single-minded motives, 
ahnost alwa3rs with deep personal unselfishness, ever with zeal, 
sometimes with indiscretion, and not unfrequently with bitter 
self-delusions and cruel sufferings to evangelize Africa. 



J 



CHAPTER IX. 

THE BRITISH IN AFRICA, II. 

{South and South-Central^ 

In 1795 England, having for some years previously cast 
longing eyes at the Cape of Good Hope, as a victualling station 
for her ships on the way to India which could not remain 
much longer in the weak grasp of a Dutch company and must 
not fall into the hands of France, despatched a strong ex- 
pedition with the authority of the Prince of Orange and took 
possession of Cape Town, after a brief struggle with the local 
authorities. Free trade, with some preference for British goods, 
at once took the place of the grinding monopoly of the old 
Dutch company, and various other liberal measures were 
enacted, which would have done much to reconcile the Dutch 
colonists to British rule were it not that when England at the 
Peace of Amiens in 1803 restored the Cape of Good Hope to 
the Dutch Republic there followed three years of direct Dutch 
rule under two most enlightened men, who did much to efface 
from the settlers' remembrance the justly hated restrictions of 
the old Dutch East India Company. Therefore, when Great 
Britain resumed, in a manner intended to be permanent, the 
administration of Cape Colony in 1805, a still more decided 
opposition was shown to her forces than before; and even after 
the cession of this colony by Holland in 1814 there remained 
among the Dutch settlers a certain lukewarmness, and a dis- 
position to find fault with the actions and motives of the 



L 



f 



Chap, ix.] The British in Africa, 11. j6i 

Colonial Government and of the British people. In 1806, 
when Cape Colony passed definitely under British control, it 
had an area of about 125,000 square miles ^ The boundary 
on the East was the Great Fish river, and thence a curving 
line which ended at Plettenberg's Beacon, about fifty miles 
south of the Orange river. The boundary on the North was 
an irregular line from Plettenberg*s Beacon (dipping far south 
in the middle) to the mouth of the Buffalo river (Little 
Namaqualand) on the Atlantic Ocean. The population of the 
colony (not counting the military forces) was about 26,000 
Europeans (of whom 6,000 lived in Cape Town), about 30,000 
Malay and negro slaves, some hundred thousand Hottentots 
and half-breeds, perhaps another hundred thousand Kaffirs, 
and a few thousand Bushmen. The industries and pursuits 
of the European settlers were limited to vine-growing, the 
raising of grain, and the care of large herds of cattle and sheep. 
The cattle were mostly the long-horned native cattle of the 
Hottentots, and the sheep the hairy, fat-tailed, domestic sheep 
of Africa. Ostrich farming was unknown, and although the 
Dutch commissioners, De Mist and Janssens, had begun to 
introduce merino sheep just before the expiration of their 
administration, wool had not yet figured amongst the exports. 

The first beneficial effect of British rule was felt in the 
stemming of the tide of Kafiir invasion. This race of Bantu 
negroes had during the previous century been pressing closer 
and closer on the extremity of South Africa from the North- 
East. The earliest branch of the Bantu to reach South Africa 
were the Herero, who invaded what is now known as Damara- 
land. But the desert and the Hottentots kept them from 
either reaching the Atlantic coast or penetrating any further 
south. Then came the Bechuana, who barely crossed the 
Orange river ; and then, overriding these latter, latest of all in 

^ As against an area for all British South Africa (which has sprung 
from Cape Colony) of 953,000 square miles in 1898, together with a 
suzerainty over ia8,ooo square miles more. 

J. A. II 



1 62 The Colonization of Africa. [Chap. 

the field, the Zulu Kaffirs, who attempted to enter Cape Colony 
from the coast region bordering on the Indian Ocean. The 
first British- Kaffir war took place in 1809, and ended in the 
expulsion of the Elaffirs from the Zuurveld (the modern district 
of Albany), to the west of the Great Fish river, which had 
then been fixed as the Kaffir boundary. In 181 7 Lord 
Charles Somerset, then the Governor of the Cape, visited the 
Zuurveld, and decided that the best obstacle in the way of 
repeated Elaffir invasions would be to settle that district with 
a stout race of colonists. He therefore obtained a grant from 
the British Government of ;£5,ooo to promote emigration to 
the Cape; and in i820-'i, 5,000 British emigrants landed in 
South Africa, 4,000 of whom were settled in the eastern 
districts, principally in the county of Albany. This settlement 
was at first a failure. Few if any of the settlers were skilled 
agriculturists, they were without any experience of life in a 
semi-tropical country, the cost of land transport pressed heavily 
on them, and the grants of land made to each individual were 
too small. The first few years Nature played her usual 
tricks ; for Nature seems to hate the movement of species and 
the upsetting of her arrangements. Therefore she sent blight 
during three years, then floods for another season. The 
settlers fell into great distress, but in time things righted them- 
selves. Some settlers moved to the towns of the colony and 
obtained high wages as artisans ; and others who held on to the 
Zuurveld at last attained prosperity by extending the area of 
land they occupied, and going in for sheep and cattle runs in 
preference to corn-growing. 

These immigrants of 1820 and 1821 created for the first 
time a strong British element in the population of Cape 
Colony. They were principally English in origin, but also 
included Scotch, Irish, and Welsh, though the Irish immi- 
grants, who had settled in the western part of Cape Colony, 
did not prosper. Gradually, owing to the distribution of the 
new settlers, the eastern part of Cape Colony became English 



IX.] The British in Africa^ II. 163 

in race and language, as compared to the western and central 
parts, which remained principally Dutch. In 1818-19 another 
Kaffir war broke out, originating from an internecine conflict 
amongst these Bantu negroes in which British intervention was 
invoked. The Kosa Elaffirs made a dash across the border and 
besieged the newly-founded Grahamstown, but they were beaten 
off, and eventually their boundary was shifted further east, to 
the Keiskamma. As the result of this war the frontier district 
was established east of the Great Fish river, which was at first 
regarded as a neutral land to be possessed by neither Kaffir 
nor white man. Gradually, however, this system became 
impossible, and at last, in 1831, the Colonial Office gave its 
assent to grants of land being made in the ceded territory to 
respectable settlers. Unfortunately in this despatch a distinc- 
tion was drawn between Englishmen and Hottentots on the 
one hand and the Dutch Boers on the other, and the latter 
were not permitted to obtain land on the new frontier district. 
This tactless and unjustified announcement, together with the 
attacks made on the Boers by the British missionaries, and the 
knowledge that the abolition of slavery was near at hand, made 
many of the Dutch settlers profoundly dissatisfied with the 
British Government and anxious to move beyond its control 

Till 1825 the Cape had been governed despotically by the 
Governor, but in that year an executive council of six members, 
all Government officials, was appointed to advise the Governor 
in his legislation. In 1828 two colonists were introduced into 
this council in place of two official members. But in 1833 the 
Cape received a regular constitution as a Crown colony with 
a legislative council in which the unofficial element was fairly 
represented. In 1827 the English language had been sub- 
stituted for Dutch in courts of law (an additional cause of 
dissatisfaction to the Boers), but the administration of justice 
in that year was greatly improved by the appointment of a 
supreme court with judges appointed directly by the Crown, 
while the lower courts were entirely remodelled, and civil 

II — 2 



164 The Colonization of Africa, [Chap. 

commissioners and resident magistrates were appointed. In 
1822 the number of Europeans settled in South Africa was 
about 60,000. In 1828, owing to the growing importance of 
the Albany settlement, Cape Colony was divided into two 
provinces, the western and the eastern, and the latter was for 
a time governed with some degree of independence. By 1824 
Cape Colony had taken what is now the southern limit of the 
Orange Free State as its northern boundary. 

At this time there was a slave population in British South 
Africa of about 60,000, of whom less than half were Hottentots 
(who were rather serfs than slaves), and the remainder Malays 
introduced by the Dutch, and black negroes brought from 
Mozambique and from Angola. The British Government 
having abolished the slave trade in 1807, the further impor- 
tation of slaves ceased; but there came into the colony a 
certain number of free negroes, who were rescued from the 
slave ships by cruisers, and landed in South Africa. In 1833 
slavery was abolished. It was however enacted that although 
the emancipation should come into effect on December ist, 
1834*, complete freedom should not be given to the slaves till 
December ist, 1838; further, that the Imperial Government 
should pay compensation to the extent of i^ million pounds. 
As this compensation was saddled with various deductions and 
drawbacks, the slave-owners— chiefly Dutchmen — did not get 
fair value for their slaves, and therefore had further cause for 
grumbling. 

At the end of 1834, shortly after one of the most dis- 
tinguished of South African Governors, Sir Benjamin D'Urban, 
had arrived to take up his appointment, 12,000 armed Kaffirs 
crossed the eastern border into the colony with something like 
a determined resolve to oust the Europeans from the newly 
settled districts. For nearly a fortnight the Kosa had it all 
their own way from Somerset East to Algoa Bay, killing many 

^ The Negro and Malay slaves then numbered m all about 39,000. 



IX.] The British in Africa, II. 165 

of the white men, burning their houses, destroying or carrying 
off their property, and turning a beautiful province into a 
desert. This raid was absolutely unprovoked, except in so far 
that for years the Kaffirs had been nursing a grievance on 
account of their expulsion from the country west of the 
Keiskamma, which they themselves had not long before taken 
from the Hottentots. Prompt measures were taken to repel 
this invasion and punish the Kosa tribe. Colonel Smith — 
afterwards Governor Sir Harry Smith — mustered what forces 
were available, and drove the Kosa Kaffirs beyond the 
Keiskamma. Early in 1835 the British forces had reached 
the Kei river on a counter invasion of Kaffirland. Sir Ben- 
jamin D'Urban dealt mercifully with the conquered Kaffirs; 
very few even of the enemy were dispossessed of their homes, 
while those natives who had remained friendly were rewarded 
by grants of land. Beyond the Kei river the son and heir of 
Hintsa, who had been killed while attempting to escape from 
imprisonment, was recognized as ruler over a section of the 
Kosas, while in the new province, afterwards to be known as 
British Kaffiaria, British residents were placed with the Kaffir 
chiefs to advise them, and missionaries were encouraged to 
return to their work. Yet this settlement (statesmanlike and 
far-sighted in its details — which I have not space to give — as 
in its general outlines) was upset, and the prosperity of South 
Africa seriously damaged by a Whig statesman. Lord Glenelg, 
the first of that new school in the Liberal party which favoured 
a reactionary policy of abandoning, curtailing or disintegrating 
what they conceived to be the unwieldy British Empire. 
Lord Glenelg was a sentimental doctrinaire, who had evolved 
from his inner consciousness an unreal South Africa in which 
Kaffir raiders of oxen were noble-minded black kings, whom a 
harsh pro-consul was dispossessing from their ancestral terri- 
tories. He not only upset all that was new in Sir Benjamin 
D'Urban's arrangement, but even compelled the retrocession 
to the Kaffirs of land which had long been occupied by white 



l66 The Colonization of Africa. [Chap. 

settlers, and further damaged the authority of the popular 
Governor of the Cape by erecting the eastern province into a 
separate governorship, over which he placed a Boer named 
Andries Stockenstrom. The immediate result of this reversal 
of Sir Benjamin D'Urban's policy was ten years of intermittent 
war with the Kaffirs (who took our generosity for weakness), 
and grave dissatisfaction among those colonists of Dutch 
origin who had suffered from the Kaffir raids. In fact. Lord 
Glenelg's blunder proved the last straw that broke the back of 
Dutch tolerance of British rule, and in 1836 a number of the 
Dutch colonists (who had come to be known as the * Boers,' or 
farmers) trekked away from the limits of Cape Colony across 
the Orange river and the Vaal river, and south-eastwards into 
Natal. So far back as 1815 the Dutch farmers had risen 
against the government of Lord Charles Somerset because it 
interfered with their summary treatment of the natives; but 
they were surrounded and laid down their arms at Slachter's 
Nek. Yet five were afterwards hung for high treason, a 
sentence which did much to alienate Dutch sympathies. 
Still, in all historical works dealing with Cape Colony it is 
reiterated that the main cause of the shaking-ofF of British 
citizenship by so many Boer farmers was Lord Glenelg's 
reversal of D'Urban's frontier settlement. The adventures of 
these Boers after leaving British territory I have dealt with in 
the chapter on Dutch Africa. 

In 1823 a small enterprise under the leadership of Farewell 
and King, officers in the Royal Navy, started from Cape Town 
to explore the coast of Natal. They landed at Port Natal 
(now Durban), visited the Zulu king Chaka, and obtained from 
him in 1824 a grant of the port of Natal with 100 square miles 
of territory inland, and a coast line of 35 miles. Other terri- 
tories in what is now the modem colony of Natal were also 
obtained later on from the Zulu chief. The purchasers of 
these lands proclaimed them to be British territory. Although 
these adventurers were occasionally driven away by the violent 



IX.] The British in Africa, II. 167 

wars and disturbances going on amongst the Zulus and Kaffirs, 
they held on to their possessions, and in June 1834 Sir 
Benjamin D'Urban forwarded to the Colonial Office a petition 
from Cape Colony for the establishment of a definite govern- 
ment in Natal. This petition the fatuous Lord Glenelg seems 
to have found some pleasure in declining on the score of 
expense. In 1835 the white element in Natal was increased 
by missionaries from America, and by Captain Allen Gardener, 
a pioneer of missionary enterprise on behalf of the Church of 
England. These settlers drew up the plans of a regular town- 
ship, built a church, christened their territory Victoria (in honour 
of the heir to the British throne), and proposed to call the 
town they were laying out Durban, after the energetic Governor 
of Cape Colony. In 1835 ^^^X petitioned that their territory 
might be made a colony, but again the Imperial Government 
refused, then, as for many years afterwards, preferring to 
postpone action until it was costly and fraught with blood- 
shed. The Dutch immigrants were allowed to form a republic 
in the interior of Natal. In July 1838 General Napier, acting 
no doubt on instructions from home, invited the British settlers 
in Natal to return to Cape Colony; but a few months after- 
wards he sent a small detachment of troops to keep order at 
the port, and again pressed the Home Government to declare 
Natal a British colony, though the following year the soldiers 
were withdrawn. This was taken by the Boers to be a tacit 
consent to the establishment of a vassal republic under British 
suzerainty. They would probably have had their way but for 
imprudent dealings on their part with natives placed under 
British protection. At the same time, a feeling began to grow 
that the United States of America were going to have political 
dealings with the territory of Natal ; while a vessel had come 
out from Holland, sent, it is true, by private persons, but 
seeming to convey a promise of Dutch alliance to the 
Burghers of Natal. British troops had again occupied Durban. 
In 1842 they were attacked by the Boers, who were eventually 



1 68 The Colonization of Africa, [Chap. 

repulsed, and afterwards tendered their submission to the 
Queen's authority. At length, in 1843, a Conservative ministry 
being in power, it was intimated that the settlers on the coast 
of Natal might be taken under British protection, with the 
eventual object of constituting Natal a self-governing colony, 
in which the Boers were to have a share proportionate to their 
numbers. After much negotiation. Natal became a British 
colony with a legislative council in 1843. The fighting Boers 
left the country and retired beyond the Orange river under a 
somewhat indefinite assurance that British rule would not 
follow them. The king of the Zulus received a recognition of 
his independence, and in return recognized the Tugela as the 
boundary of the British colony on the east. To the south, the 
territory of Natal was somewhat restricted, and the portion cut 
off from it became known as Pondoland, which remained an 
independent Kaffir state till 1884 : it was finally annexed to 
Cape Colony in 1894. In 1847 the mistake of Lord Glenelg 
was to some extent repaired under Governor Sir Harry Smith, 
and the eastern boundary of Cape Colony was once more 
advanced to the Kei river. This step was taken after a very 
serious Kaffir war which broke out in 1846. In 1850, how- 
ever, a war began again with the restless Kosa Kaffirs. It 
extended far and widcfand was marked by not a few disasters; 
one being the loss at sea off Simon's Bay of the troopship 
Birkenhead, which foundered with large reinforcements of 
troops on board, 400 soldiers and seamen being drowned. At 
length, in 1853, General Cathcart, who had succeeded Sir 
Harry Smith, captured all the strongholds of the Kaffirs in the 
Amatola Mountains, and deported the Kaffirs from that dis- 
trict, which subsequently became (from its settlement by 
Hottentot half-breeds) Grikwaland East. 

In 1852 the Sand River Convention was concluded, by 
which the independence of the Transvaal Boers was recog- 
nized ; but the Orange River Sovereignty still remained under 
British control, and its difficulties with the Basuto compelled 



IX.] The British in Africa, IL 169 

an intervention of the British forces. The invasion of moun- 
tainous Basutoland began with a drawn battle in which the 
Basuto held their own. They afterwards secured favourable 
terms of peace by sending in their submission. This incident 
discouraged the British Government, who decided to abandon 
the Orange River Sovereignty rather than be under any 
responsibility for its defence. Accordingly, independence was 
forced on the settlers, many of whom were Englishmen. 
Basutoland, after having frequently engaged in wars with the 
Orange Free State, and having to cede a portion of its territory 
to them, was finally taken under British protection in 1868. 
In 187 1 it was annexed to the Cape, but, owing to the 
turbulence of its people and the mismanagement of the 
Colonial Government, it was transferred to direct Imperial 
administration in 1883. 

During several years prior to 1849 the Imperial Govern- 
ment had been endeavouring to arrange for the despatch of 
British convicts to South Africa, as it was becoming incon- 
venient to maintain the penal establishments in Australia. 
Whenever the question came up the Cape Colonists protested 
against the idea. Nevertheless, in September 1849, ^ ship 
brought over from Bermuda a number of ticket-of-leave men to 
be landed at the Cape. The ship anchored in Simon's Bay, 
but the colonists took strong measures to prevent the landing 
of the convicts. All were united to this end. The Governor 
met the dangerous sitviation with great wisdom. He kept the 
convicts on board ship until the order could be reconsidered in 
England. The Home Government, for a wonder, did not 
push the point to the raising of rebellion ; the convicts were 
sent on to Van Diemen's Land, while an Order-in-Council 
authorising transportation to the Cape was revoked. By 1850 
the prosperity of Cape Colony had become established. Its 
population, white and coloured, at that time reached a total of 
220,000. The revenue at the same period stood at about 
^220,000 per annum, while the value of the colonial produce 



I/O The Colonization of Africa. [Chap. 

exported during that year was approximately ;^8oo,ooo. 
Wine was no longer the principal export, and even the export 
of grain had diminished ; wool had taken the first place. In 
1850 it represented 53 per cent, of the total exports. Hair 
from Angora goats, which had been introduced during the 
'30's, was beginning to take an important place in the list 
of exported products, and ostrich feathers (chiefly derived from 
the wild bird, however) were also an important item. Ostrich 
farming, which has now placed the ostrich — ^happily — on the 
list of inextinguishable domestic birds, did not come into 
vogue till the '6o's, though the emigrant Boers at a much 
earlier date had been accustomed to hatch and rear young 
ostriches about their farms. 

On the 23rd of May, 1850, the Government and Council 
of Cape Colony were authorized to prepare for the establish- 
ment of a Representative government, and three years later 
this was established, a Colonial legislature being formed ; but 
the ministry was to be responsible only to the Governor. 
Responsible government, similar in many respects to that 
which obtains in the great colonies of Canada and Australasia, 
was brought into force in 1872. 

In 1854 the great Sir George Grey became Governor of 
the Cape. He, even more than his predecessors, was anxious 
to build up against Kaffir invasion on the East a wall of 
military colonists, who should be able to defend their flocks 
from raids without continually calling on the Colonial Govern- 
ment for intervention. After the Crimean War a means 
presented itself in the disbanding of the Foreign Legion, 
which Great Britain had recruited, and which consisted of 
German, Swiss, and Italian soldiers. After the conclusion of 
peace it was necessary to disband this force, and they were 
invited to volunteer for African colonization. The result was 
that 2,300 Germans accepted the terms offered, and started for 
South Africa. They were settled in the Eastern Province. 
But trouble then began to arise from their being unmarried 



IX.] The British in Africa, IL 171 

men, and Sir George Grey sought to remedy the defect by 
importing a large number of German women. The Imperial 
Government, however, thought that this would not be a politic 
step to take, to create a little Germany in British Africa. 
Finally the Cape Government sent on 1,000 of the German 
bachelors to India, and the 1,300 who remained behind found 
wives in the colony, and merged their own nationality in that of 
British subjects. Nevertheless, the introduction of these 
German settlers led to the going out of many emigrants from 
Germany for some years afterwards, and these settled in such 
numbers in independent KafiFraria that there seemed a danger 
at one time of their invoking German intervention. 

In 1856 a terrible delusion took hold on the Kosa Kaffirs. 
They had endured a good deal of misery from the destruction 
of much of their cattle by an epidemic of rinderpest, and were 
in a mood to be influenced by the wild sayings of their witch 
doctors. One of these wizards, who had received a smattering 
of education at a mission school, arose and proclaimed a strange 
gospel. He announced that the dead and gone Kaffir chiefs 
would return to earth with their followers, and bring with them 
a new race of cattle exempt from disease, and that following 
on this resurrection would come the triumph of the black man 
over the white. The prophet had heard of the Crimean War, 
and announced that the dead Kaffir chiefs would bring with 
them many Russian soldiers and attack the British. But one 
thing was necessary to secure this Millennium : the existing 
cattle and crops must be destroyed. A portion of the Kaffir 
tribes believed this rubbish. Some of the chiefs even who 
knew better, and who smiled at the imposture, encouraged it, 
thinking that after taking these desperate measures their men 
would stick at nothing, and would really break down the 
British power. Therefore, most of the Kosa Kaffirs set to 
work to slaughter their oxen and cut down their corn, and all 
looked forward eagerly to the dawning of February 18, 1857, 
on which date the resurrection was to take place. Nothing 



1/2 The Colonization of Africa, [Chap. 

happened, however, and the consequences of this hateful 
imposture were terrible. It is stated that 25,000 Kaffirs died 
of starvation, and nearly 100,000 others left British Kaffraria 
and the territories beyond the Kei to seek another home. 
Some 40,000 of these Kaffirs settled in Cape Colony, being 
taken into service there through the intervention of the Govern- 
ment, and from them, mixed with Hottentots and emancipated 
slaves, are descended the *Cape Boys,' who have since attracted 
attention by their value as soldiers in suppressing the Matabele 
revolt. Sir George Grey in 1858 was obliged to send a 
military force against some of the Kaffir tribes rendered 
desperate by destitution, and they were driven for a time into 
Pondoland, British Kaffi-aria being annexed to Cape Colony, 
and the Transkei being taken under British protection. This 
Transkei territory was subsequently repeopled, partly with 
Fingo Kaffirs, and partly by the descendants of the Kaffir 
tribes who were ruined by the teaching of the false prophets. 
In 1877 the Galekas, a section of the Kosa tribe, commenced 
fighting the Fingos. They were joined later on by the Gaikas, 
another Kosa people, who had for long been dwelling peace- 
ably in the Eastern Province, and during 1877 and 1878 the 
last Kaffir war raged, ending inevitably in conquest and 
submission. 

The British had taken from the Dutch in 165 1 the little 
island of St Helena* (in the Atlantic Ocean), the Dutch having 
previously taken it from the Portuguese in 1645. '^^^^ island 
became of some value as a place of call for ships passing to 
and from India round the Cape. In 18 15 it was selected as 
the place of banishment for the deposed Napoleon Bonaparte, 
and to make security doubly sure, the islands of Ascension, to 

^ Discovered by the Portuguese in 1502, its existence was kept secret 
by them until 1588, when Captain Cavendish returning from a cruise round 
the world suddenly lighted on it. The Dutch twice seized it and held it 
each time for a few months in 1665 and 1673. I'^ this year it was 
definitely allotted to the East India Company. 



IX.] The British in Africa^ 11. 173 

the north, and Tristan d'Acunha, to the extreme south*, were 
occupied also about the same time, and have remained British 
ever since. Whereas Ascension has always been managed 
directly by the British Admiralty, St Helena was from 1673 
until 1815, and from 1821 to 1834 governed by the East India 
Company. In 1834 it became a Crown Colony. Tristan 
d'Acunha was occupied by a British garrison from 181 5 to 
182 1, of which three men remained behind voluntarily and 
with some shipwrecked sailors started the existing colony, 
which is a self-governing community. 

St Helena was profoundly afifected by the opening of the 
Suez Canal in 1869. She lost nearly all the shipping which 
formerly sought her harbour, and three-quarters of her trade, 
but she is now beginning to recover prosperity to some degree 
as a valuable health resort, especially for the ships of the West 
African Squadron, and as a possible coaling station in time 
of war. 

Cape Colony might also have suffered from the opening of 
the Suez Canal but that she was already beginning to build up 
an importance of her own, due to her exports of wool, hides, 
wine, and ostrich feathers. Moreover a happy discovery 
intervened which effectually guarded against any waning of 
interest in South Africa. In 1867 the first diamond was dis- 
covered near the Orange river, but it was not until 1870 that a 
large find of these precious stones was made near the site of 
modem Kimberley. This discovery of diamonds to the north 
of the Orange river, and in country of doubtful ownership, but 
claimed by the Orange Free State, drove the now awakened 
British Government to rather sharp practice. The diamond- 
bearing land was claimed by a Grikwa (Hottentot half-caste) 
chief named Waterboer. On the other hand, the Orange Free 
State asserted that it had acquired the greater part of the 



^ The largest of a little group of islets in the South Atlantic about 
1360 miles west of the Cape of Good Hope. 



174 ^^ Colonization of Africa. [Chap. 

country from the original Grikwa owners, and the northern part 
of Diamondland was claimed by the Transvaal. This last claim 
was submitted to the arbitration of the Lieutenant-Governor of 
Natal, who awarded most of the diamond country to the Grikwa 
and Bechuana chiefs. These latter had really become the men 
of straw hiding the hand of the British Government. Finally, 
in 187 1 Waterboer and other Grikwa chiefs ceded their rights 
to the British Government, who promptly erected the diamond 
country into a province under the name of Grikwaland West. 
The Orange Free State protested, and no doubt the action of 
the British Government was rather high-handed, and in rare 
contrast to the abnegatory policy usually pursued. Finally 
the claims of the Orange Free State were settled by Lord 
Carnarvon, who in 1876 awarded to its government the sum of 
;^9o,ooo in consideration of the abandonment of their claim. 

In 1845 Natal had been annexed to Cape Colony, but 
later on in the same year it was given a separate administra- 
tion, consisting of a Lieutenant-Governor and an executive 
Council; though in legal matters it still remained dependent 
on Cape Town. But in 1848 a local Legislative Council was 
created, and finally in 1856 the colony was entirely severed 
from the Cape, and was endowed with a partially representative 
government. Some years previously the Governor of Cape 
Colony had been also created H.M. High Commissioner in 
South Africa, so that he might have power to represent the 
British Government outside the limits of Cape Colony. In 
this capacity therefore he still retains some authority over the 
government of Natal and its relations with the adjoining states. 
The influence of the High Commissioner extends over all 
Africa south of the Zambezi and the Portuguese West African 
possessions ^ The territory of Natal was not capable for some 
time of any great extension, being girt about with Boer states 
and Negro tribes whose independence was to some extent 

^ It will also include Barotseland shortly, and will thus extend to the 
Congo Free State. 



IX.] The British in Africa^ II. 175 

guaranteed by the Imperial Government. But in 1866 it 
received back a small territory on the south (the county of 
Alfred), which was within the original limits claimed by the 
founders of Natal, but had been for a time handed over to the 
Pondo chief. The settled government of Natal and the 
kindly attitude of the British Colonial Government brought 
about the repeopling of that fertile country by Kaffir tribes. 
This " Garden of South Africa " had been almost depopulated 
by the Zulu kings, who had slaughtered something like 
1,000,000 natives from first to last. Before the rise of the 
Zulu tribe. Natal or *Embo'^ had been a thickly populated 
country. Under white rule the native immigration and popu- 
lation increased so rapidly that when the colony was only nine 
years old it contained 113,000 Kaffirs. The white colonists 
were of mixed origin, about one-third being the original Dutch 
settlers, while the remainder were either emigrants from Great 
Britain, Cape Colonials, or Germans. The German families 
mainly came from Bremen. At first the principal article of 
export was ivory, obtained from Zululand, where elephants 
still rioted in great numbers ; but this was not to last long, for 
what with British sportsmen and Dutch hunters, and the intro- 
duction of firearms amongst the natives, big game was rapidly 
exterminated. Then, during the '50's, the sugar cane and the 
cotton plant were introduced', the export of sugar rising in 
1872 to an annual value of ;^i 54,000. These semi-tropical 
plantations brought about a fresh want — that of patient, cheap, 
agricultural labourers. Unhappily, the black man, though so 
strong in body and so unaspiring in ideals, has as a rule a 
strong objection to continuous agricultural labour. His own 
needs are amply supplied by a few weeks' tillage scattered 

^ Or **Land of the Abambo," the name of one of the original Bantu 
tribes of the country. The root —mdo is very common as a tribal name 
among the Bantu, and occurs repeatedly in Central Africa. 

2 To which was added in later years tea (a great success) and coffee — 
the latter destroyed by the Ceylon coffee disease. 



176 The Colonization of Africa. [Chap. 

throughout the year ; and even this is generally performed by 
the women of the tribe, the men being free to fight, hunt, fish, 
tend cattle, and loaf. Therefore, the 100,000 odd black men 
of Natal, though they made useful domestic servants and police, 
were of but little use in the plantations. As sugar cultivation 
was introduced from Mauritius, so with this introduction came 
naturally the idea of employing Indian Coolies, already taking 
the place in the Mascarene Islands which was formerly occupied 
by Negro slaves. In i860 the first indentured Coolies reached 
Natal from India, and by the end of 1875 12,000 natives of 
British India were established in Natal. A number of these 
had passed out of their indentures, and had become free settlers 
and petty traders. Nowadays the Indian population of Natal 
has risen to something like 42,000. From Natal these British 
Indians have crept into the Transvaal, into the Orange Free 
State, and even into Bechuanaland and Rhodesia. Many of 
them are employed on the Natal railways, and in the towns 
they form a thriving class of petty traders. Here and there 
they have mingled with the Kaffirs, producing a rather fine- 
looking hybrid, similar in appearance to the black Portuguese 
on the Zambezi, who are descended from a cross between 
natives of Goa, in Portuguese India, and Zambezi Negroes. 
Added to the ordinary Coolie class are traders who belong 
partly to Tamul and other Dravidian races of South India and 
partly to coast tribes from Western India, mostly professing 
the Khoja faith. The Khojas are in a far-off way Muham- 
madans. The inhabitants of Natal have with great inaccuracy 
taken to calling these West Coast Indians "Arabs." This 
Indian element is likely to have its effect on the history of 
Natal. It is strongly unpopular amongst the white colonists 
for selfish reasons. On the whole, it is not unpopular amongst 
the blacks, but the idea of an eventual fusion between Negro 
and Indian is not an agreeable one to contemplate from the 
colonist's point of view, as it would create a race strong both 
mentally and physically, far outnumbering the whites, and 



IX.] The British in Africa^ II, 177 

likely to make a dangerous struggle for supremacy. On the 
other hand, from the Imperial point of view, — from what I call 
the policy of the Black, White, and Yellow — it seems unjust 
that Her Majesty's Indian subjects should not be allowed to 
circulate as freely as those of her lieges who can claim 
European descent. Perhaps on the whole the solution which 
has been initiated in the British sphere north of the Zambezi 
is the best: namely, that Indian immigration should be drawn 
rather to those countries which are administered on the same 
lines as India than to the temperate regions south of the 
Zambezi, where the white man might be allowed to expand 
without let or hindrance. 

The first railway worked in South Africa is said to have 
been a line connecting the town of Durban with the landing- 
place of its harbour, which was opened in i860. But soon 
afterwards a railway began to start northwards from Cape 
Town to Paarl, and this was directed with many zigzags, and 
with a seeming aimlessness towards the Karoo. The discovery 
of the Diamond fields gave railway extension an objective, and 
Kimberley became the goal which was finally reached in 1885 ^ 
In 1872 the Cape Government by Act of Parliament took over 
the existing railways in Cape Colony, which then only consisted 
of a total length of 64 miles. Soon afterwards an expenditure 
on railway extension of ^^5 ,000,000 was authorized. In Natal 
a Government railway was commenced in 1876 connecting 
Durban with the capital, Pietermaritzburg. This line now 
traverses the Colony to the Transvaal border and in another 
direction enters the Orange Free State. 

The history of Natal has been singularly peaceful and 
prosperous, as compared with the weary Kaffir warfare of the 
Eastern Province of Cape Colony. But in 1873 ^^^ natives of 
Natal required a lesson. On its north-western frontier the 

* Twelve years later the railway line had traversed British Bechuana- 
land and had reached Buluwayo. It is now heading for the Zambezi. 

J. A. 12 



178 The Colonization of Africa, [Chap. 

Hlubi refugees from Zululand had been allowed to establish 
themselves under a chief of great importance, Langalibalele. 
His young men had gone to work in the Diamond fields of 
Kimberley, and had returned with guns, the introduction of 
which into the colony without registration was prohibited. 
Langalibalele, taking no notice of a summons to answer ftx this 
breach of the law, fled into Basutoland. Fortunately the 
Basuto gave him no support, and he was eventually captured 
and exiled for a time to Cape Colony. But this outbreak 
called attention to the great increase of the native population 
of Natal, and the unwisdom of allowing it any longer to remain 
under the government of the Elaffir chiefs. Accordingly in 
1875 Sir Garnet, afterwards Viscount, Wolseley was sent to 
Natal to report on the native question, and initiated changes 
which had the effect of bringing the natives more completely 
under the control of the Executive, and approximating them 
more towards the position of citizens of the colony. 

All this time diamonds had been attracting many emigrants 
to South Africa, chiefly from Great Britain, but also from 
France and Germany. Amongst these emigrants were a 
number of Jews belonging to all three nationalities, who were 
naturally attracted to the diamond trade. The growing interest 
felt in South Africa from the discovery of diamonds had not 
only tended to make the British Government very particular as 
to the exact rights it possessed in the vicinity of the Dutch 
republics, but also led it to revive its claims to the south shore 
of Delagoa Bay. The Portuguese Government, foreseeing this, 
had commenced to reassert its claim to that harbour in 
its boundary treaty with the Transvaal in 1869. In 1870-71 
the British Government raised its claim in the manner I have 
already described in the chapter on Portuguese Africa. In 
1872 Great Britain agreed to submit the question at issue to 
the arbitration of Marshal MacMahon, whose award, delivered 
in 1875, was wholly in favour of the Portuguese. But Great 
Britain had already secured from Portugal a promise, confirmed 



IX.] The British in Africa^ II. 179 

by a more recent convention, that she should be allowed the 
right of pre-emption over Delagoa Bay\ During the '50's and 
'6o's missionaries and traders had pushed due north across 
the Orange river, through Bechuanaland, to the Zambezi, 
and westward to Lake Ngami and Damaraland. During the 
'6o's a good deal of trade was done in the last-mentioned 
country in ostrich feathers and ivory, and the Damara, who 
should more properly be known as the Ova-herero*, came under 
European influence. Wars arising between the Damara and 
the Hottentot Namakwa, and the complaints of the German 
missionaries at work in these countries, brought about the 
despatch of a commissioner to Damaraland by the Cape 
Government He reported in 1876 in favour of extending 
British protection over Damaraland, but all that Downing Street 
would concede was the annexation of Walfish Bay. (Twelve 
little islets off the S.W. coast had been annexed in 1867, be- 
cause they were leased to a guano-collecting company.) A little 
later on another commissioner was despatched from the Cape 
to settle the intertribal quarrels north of the Orange river, and 
a further recommendation was sent home by the Governor; 
but Lord Kimberley, the new Colonial Secretary, definitely 
forbade the extension of any British influence over Namakwa- 
land or Damaraland. In 1883 Germany directly questioned 
England as to whether she laid claim to territory north of the 
Orange river. An evasive reply was sent, in which delay was 
asked for so that the Cape Government could be consulted. 
Eventually the Germans were told that England laid claim to 
Walfish Bay and the Guano Islands only, but that the inter- 
vention of another Power between the Portuguese frontier and 
the Orange river would infringe legitimate British rights. The 
inaction of our Government on this occasion seems to us in 

^ To which was added later, over all Portuguese Africa south of the 
Zambezi. 

' Damara is the Hottentot name applied to these black Bantu negroes, 
who call themselves Ova-herero, Ova-mbo, etc. 

12 2 



i8o The Colonization of Africa. [Chap. 

the present day, and by our modern lights, inconceivable. 
Literally the only reason they seem to have had in not politely 
declaring that South- West Africa was under British protection - 
was the remote dread that they would have to protect German 
missionaries and traders. 

But not only Downing Street in the greater degree but the 
Cape Government in the lesser was to blame for this stupid 
inactivity. The Cape Government at that time was directed 
by ministers who were much under purely colonial influence, 
and who, discouraged by their failure to administer Basutoland, 
had no very strong desire to spend the money of the colony 
in annexing and administering a vast territory mainly desert. 
Besides, the idea of Germany becoming a colonial power was 
laughed at in those days in Government circles as an impossi- 
bility. At length all doubts were ended by the declaration 
of a German protectorate over South-West Africa in 1884. 

British missionaries during the '30's and 40's had crossed 
the Orange river and settled in Bechuanaland, a sterile 
plateau between the Namakwa and Kalahari deserts on the 
one hand, and the relatively well-watered regions of the 
Transvaal and Matabeleland on the other. By 1851, British 
sportsmen, roving afield after big game, and the great missionary- 
explorer Livingstone had reached the Zambezi, which till then 
was only known from the sea for about 500 miles inland. 
Livingstone's explorations on the Zambezi attracted the atten- 
tion of the British Government, which at that time was much 
more interested from philanthropic motives in acquiring terri- 
tories in Tropical Africa than in extending its influence over 
far more valuable regions which enjoyed a temperate climate. 
Livingstone was sent back with a fairly well-equipped expedition 
to explore Zambezia and discover the reported Lake Nyasa, 
then known as Lake Maravi. For five years his expedition 
traversed these countries, adding immensely to our geographical 
knowledge; but its members suffered terribly from ill-health. 
Although the Portuguese treated them with kindness, and put 



IX.] The British in Africa, IL i8i 

no obstacle in their way, still Portuguese political susceptibilities 
were aroused. For this and other reasons, — one of them being 
^that Earl Russell, a Whig, was Foreign Minister, and had no 
S3rmpathy with the expansion of the British Empire — Living- 
stone was recalled, and his proposals in regard to Lake Nyasa 
quashed. Nevertheless, the seed had been sown, and produced 
a sparse crop of adventurers, elephant hunters, missionaries and 
traders, who found their way to Nyasaland. Livingstone him- 
self resumed his explorations there, and an expedition, under 
Lieutenant Edward Young, R.N., which was sent to obtain 
news of him, kept the British in favourable remembrance 
amongst the natives. Finally, Livingstone's death revived 
missionary enthusiasm, and two strong Scotch missions in 
1875-6 occupied the Shird Highlands and the west coast of 
Lake Nyasa, putting a steamer on that lake. Two years later 
the African Lakes Trading Company sprang from missionary 
loins, and the Universities* Mission in 1881 advanced overland 
from Zanzibar to the east shore of Lake Nyasa. 

In consequence of the increase of British interests in 
this quarter the British Government decided to establish a 
consulate for Lake Nyasa in 1883. Portuguese susceptibilities 
again became ruffled. Although no attempt had ever been 
made by Portugal to establish herself an)rwhere near Lake 
Nyasa, nor even on the river Shir^, which connects that lake 
with the Zambezi and the sea, it was felt in Portugal that the 
growing British settlements in Nyasaland should be made to 
contribute to the revenue of Portuguese East Africa, and that 
since through further extension they might force a way to the 
coast, it would be better that they should be brought under 
Portuguese control. Although the British Government was 
absolutely determined if possible not to assume direct respon- 
sibilities in Nyasaland, they were equally anxious that their 
subjects should be left a free hand, and not be fettered by 
Portuguese control. Therefore an attempt was made by Lord 
Granville (in the projected Congo Treaty of 1884) to define 



1 82 The Colonization of Africa, [Chap. 

the sphere of Portuguese influence on the Shir^, so as to 
leave the greater part of that river and all Nyasaland outside 
the Portuguese dominions. Had that Congo Treaty been 
ratified, there would probably never have been the Nyasa 
Question with the Portuguese. But it was not, and there- 
fore Portugal was equally free with Great Britain to make 
the best use of her opportunities, which she did in the manner 
already described in Chapter II. The author of this book 
happened to be one of the principal agents employed in 
bringing Nyasaland under British protection, and in extending 
that protection to the west and north as far as the shores of 
Tanganyika and the boundary of the Congo Free State. As 
Mr Cecil Rhodes' agents had added thereto the Protectorate 
of the Barotse kingdom, the term "British Central Africa" 
seemed more fitted to describe this sphere in South-Central 
Africa than the restricted name of "Nyasaland." Treaties 
with Germany (1890) and Portugal (1891) having sanctioned 
these acquisitions north of the Zambezi, the administration of 
the new territory was divided between the Imperial Govern- 
ment — which decided to control the more organized terri- 
tories round Lake Nyasa — and the newly-founded British South 
Africa Chartered Company. Between 1895 and 1898 the 
Chartered Company directed the administration and policing 
of its North Zambezia territories independently of the Protec- 
torate; but in the summer of 1898 the Company placed its 
police force under the control of the ofiicer commanding the 
troops in the British Central Africa Protectorate, and chose 
one of the Protectorate's officials to conduct its civil adminis- 
tration in the territories east of Barotse \ 

During the seven years* history of British Central Africa 

^ Eventually it would seem as though the Chartered Company would 
administer Rhodesia and Barotseland under the South African High Com- 
missioner, while the administration of the territories east of the Kafue and 
north of the Zambezi will be fused with that of the British Central Africa 
Protectorate. 



IX.] The British in Africa^ IL 183 

much has been effected m developing and making known 
these territories, which are unhappily too unhealthy to admit 
of much European colonization, though they will become of 
great value as tropical ** plantation" colonies and as mining 
districts, and will support an abundant native population which 
in time to come will no doubt be governed on Indian lines. 
During these seven years the slave trade had to be met and 
conquered. Numerous Arabs from Zanzibar had established 
themselves in Nyasaland as sultans, and had Muhammadanized 
certain tribes and infused into them a dislike to European 
domination. The countries west of Lake Nyasa were ravaged 
by tribes of more or less Zulu descent, the remains of former 
Zulu invasions of Central Zambezia. In seven years, however, 
these enemies were all subdued by means of Sikh soldiers lent 
by the Indian Government, the native levies that were drilled 
by the Sikhs, and five gunboats, more or less worked by the 
Royal Navy, which were placed on the Zambezi, the Shir^, and 
on Lake Nyasa. Mr Rhodes began in 1893 his great scheme 
of connecting Cape Town with Cairo by a telegraph line. 
In five years he has at any rate connected Cape Town with 
Tanganyika through British Central Africa. These territories 
north of the Zambezi have proved peculiarly favourable to the 
cultivation of coffee, which was originally introduced by 
Scottish missionaries and planters, and which will probably 
end by making the fortune of this part of Africa, though 
these countries possess other valuable resources in vegetable 
products, in minerals, and in ivory. 

During Lord Carnarvon's presence at the Colonial Office 
between 1874 and 1878 that enlightened statesman endeavoured 
to repeat in South Africa the success which had attended his 
consolidation of the North American colonies into one con- 
federated Dominion. He sent out the historian Froude to 
represent him at the proposed conference of South African 
states. The great Sir George Grey had tried hard to bring 
about this unification of South Africa under the British flag 



184 The Colonization of Africa, [Chap. 

during the '50's, and in 1858 he pressed strongly upon the 
Imperial Parliament a scheme which would have well effected 
this now desired end. For his pains he was recalled and 
sharply reprimanded, but, mainly owing to the influence of the 
Queen, he was sent back to his governorship, though he was 
not allowed to carry out the far-reaching policy he had formu- 
lated. In Cape Colony the Federation Commission was 
appointed in 1872. But the always present, varyingly bitter 
dissidence of sympathies between the English and the Dutch- 
speaking settlers — a difficulty constantly discernible in the 
debates of the Cape Parliament — ^prevented any ripening of the 
federation idea, and Lord Carnarvon's commissioner, Mr Froude, 
was snubbed for his pains by the Cape Dutch. Foiled in one 
direction, Lord Carnarvon sought to effect his end in another 
way. He sent out Sir Bartle Frere to be Governor and High 
Commissioner at the Cape. He had been chosen by Lord 
Carnarvon six months before as the statesman most capable 
of consolidating the South African Empire; "within two years 
it was hoped that he would be the first Governor-General of 
the South African Dominion." The second step in what 
seemed to be the right direction was the annexation of the 
Transvaal. With this territory of about 120,000 square miles 
in extent in British hands there would only remain the Orange 
Free State as an obstacle to the unification of South Africa. 
The Transvaal as an independent state had between 1853 and 
1877 come to grief. It was bankrupt, and it was powerless 
to subdue the powerful native tribes within its borders, some 
of whom had real wrongs to avenge. Moreover, it was 
threatened by Zulu invasion. It was therefore annexed by the 
British Commissioner, Sir Theophilus Shepstone, in the begin- 
ning of 1877. 

Unfortunately, Sir Bartle Frere's administration, after two 
and a half years of excellent work, was clouded by unmerited 
misfortune. The Zulu power to the east of Natal had been 
growing threateningly strong. At the beginning of the present 



IX.] The British in Africa, IL 185 

century an obscure tribe of Kaffirs known as the Ama-zulu 
rose into prominence under a chief named Chaka, who 
became a kind of Negro Napoleon, but unhappily a great 
slaughterer. He and his chiefs included in their conquests all 
modern Natal and Zululand, much of the Transvaal and the 
Orange Free State, and Amatongaland up to Delagoa Bay^ 
Chaka's son, Dingane, though he most treacherously attacked 
the Boers, was fairly friendly in his relations with the British, 
and tolerated their establishment in Natal. In fact he seems 
to have allowed them to reorganize the territory of Natal which 
his father had almost depopulated. Owing to the founding 
of the Transvaal Republic and the Orange River Sovereignty 
in addition to the colony of Natal, the Zulus were henceforth 
shut up in a relatively small tract of South- East Africa repre- 
sented by modern Zululand and Amatongaland; though the 
Amatonga were practically another people. Dingane was 
succeeded by Panda, and Panda by Cetywayo. The last-named 
perfected the system of a standing army of well-drilled 
bachelors. Anxious to find an outlet for his energies, he openly 
menaced the Transvaal, and was one of the causes of British 
intervention in that bedraggled republic. Shut off from this 
outlet, he seemed becoming dangerous, and, thinking it best to 
prick the bladder before it burst, Sir Bartle Frere forced war on 
him by an ultimatum. The invasion of Zululand at the outset 
was not very wisely conducted, and led to a terrible disaster 
by which eight hundred British troops were cut to pieces*; 
and subsequently through mismanagement the Prince Imperial 
of France, who had come out as a volunteer, was allowed to 
stray into danger, and be killed by the Zulus. After a time, 

^ Driven out of the Orange Free State and the Transvaal by the action 
of Boers, British, and Basuto, a section of the Zulus conquered much of 
Portuguese South-East Africa, nearly all modem " Rhodesia," and carried 
their raids past Nyasa and Tanganyika to the vicinity of the Victoria 
Nyanza. 

* And over four hundred native soldiers. 



1 86 The Colonization of Africa. [Chap. 

however, Lord Chelmsford succeeded in completely conquering 
the country, and Cetywayo was taken prisoner. Although Sir 
Bartle Frere was in no way answerable for these mistakes in a 
campaign which was eventually completely successful, his 
prestige was dimmed, and as the Liberal Government of 1880 
was inclined to pursue a reactionary policy in Africa, Sir Bartle 
Frere was recalled. 

The Boers, taking advantage of British discouragement and 
the change of government in England, rose and demanded 
their independence. It was refused by Mr Gladstone's 
administration, and troops were hastily sent out to subdue them, 
with the result I have detailed in Chapter IV. As to the after 
history of Zululand, it may be briefly summarized as follows. 
The Boers were allowed to add a large slice of the country to 
their reorganized republic. Cetjrwayo was reinstated as king, 
but soon died. The country was then divided into various 
native principalities, but Dinizulu, Cetywayo's son, fomented 
an insurrection and was exiled to St Helena. The country 
was then governed more or less as a British protectorate by 
the able Sir Marshall Clarke and in connection with the colony 
of Natal, the Governor of which was also made Governor of 
Zululand. In 1897 Zululand was incorporated with the colony 
of Natal. In 1887 British protection was extended over 
Amatongaland up to the Portuguese boundary, and in 1895 
this strip of coast territory was taken under more direct ad- 
ministration. 

As was related in Chapter IV, the Dutch Republic of the 
Transvaal soon after recovering its independence sought to 
invade and absorb Bechuanaland, but the expedition under 
Sir Charles Warren put an end to their hopes in that direction, 
and a clear path was made for the British northwards to 
the Zambezi. In the early '70's, explorations of men like 
Baines and the German Karl Mauch had revealed the 
existence of gold in the countries between the Limpopo and 
the Zambezi, countries which had come under the sway of a 



IX.] The British in Africa, II, 187 

Zulu king, Lobengula, son of Umsilikasi^ Mr Cecil John 
Rhodes, an Englishman who had brought about the consoli- 
dation of the mines at Kimberley and had acquired great 
wealth and a position of political importance at the Cape, 
had interested himself firstly in the settlement of the Bechuana 
Question with the Boers ; and when Bechuanaland had been 
declared a British protectorate his thoughts turned to the 
possibility of gold beyond; for the gold discoveries in the 
Transvaal were beginning to make a golden South Africa 
dawn on men's imaginations. He despatched envoys to 
Lobengula, and secured from him the right to mine. Other 
individuals or syndicates had secured mining rights in that 
direction, but Mr Rhodes with patience and fair dealing bought 
up or absorbed these rights, and in 1888 began to think of 
obtaining a charter from the Imperial Government which 
would enable the Company he intended to form to govern 
South-Central Africa. At one time he seems to have thought 
that the De Beers diamond mining company should receive 
this charter and perform these functions, for when he had 
framed the articles of association of the De Beers shareholders 
he had inserted clauses enabling the Company to take up 
such an enterprise. But there were many reasons why this 
would not have worked well, and it was resolved to constitute 
an independent company to work Lobengula's concession first, 
and to create another South African state afterwards. Already 
in 1888 the High Commissioner, Sir Hercules Robinson, had 
somewhat reluctantly extended a vague form of protection 
over Lobengula's country, and it had been made clear to 
Germany that Great Britain would not submit to be cut off 
from the Zambezi. In the early summer of 1889 a charter 
was granted to the British South Africa Company, of which 
Mr Rhodes became and remained the practical administrator. 
Mr Rhodes' ambitions then crossed the Zambezi, and he 

^ A rebellious General of Chaka's, often known by his Bechuana name, 
" Mosilikatsi." 



1 88 The Colonization of Africa, [Chap. 

co-operated with the present writer in establishing British in- 
fluence up to Tanganyika. For several years his Company 
afforded a subsidy to the administration of the British Central 
Africa Protectorate as well as to the territories under the 
Company's own control. The African Lakes Company was 
given financial support, and enabled to extend its operations 
to Tanganyika. In 1891 Mr Rhodes commenced the organ- 
ization of the East Coast Route from Mashonaland to the sea, 
and he and his friends practically subscribed the capital for 
the Beira Railway. Fort Salisbury and other settlements in 
Mashonaland and on the East of Matabeleland were founded 
between 1891 and 1893. In the last-named year the Matabele 
made an entirely unprovoked attack on the Company's forces, 
and a counter-invasion most ably directed by Dr Jameson 
achieved a complete victory over the Matabele. King 
Lobengula fled, and died soon after he had crossed the 
Zambezi. His capital, Buluwayo, became the administrative 
capital of the Company's possessions, to which the inclusive 
name of Rhodesia was subsequently given. The development 
of Rhodesia proceeded apace. Mr Rhodes had since 1890 
been Premier of Cape Colony, he was high in favour with 
the Dutch Party in South Africa, and he was fast becoming 
the actual, if not nominal Dictator of Africa south of the 
Zambezi when he made the fatal mistake of organizing a raid 
into the Transvaal. Since then his special province has under- 
gone severe trials, from which, however, it is emerging with 
every sign of future prosperity. Mr Rhodes has done much 
to atone for his one mistake by the enormous pecuniary 
sacrifices he has made in pushing on the railway to Beira 
and the Zambezi, and in constructing the telegraph line from 
Mafeking to Tanganyika. There are signs that he will 
recover to a considerable extent his influence in Cape Colony, 
and he may yet play a great part in South Africa. 

After dealing with such striking events, such potent 



IX.] The British in Africa, IL 189 

personages and vast territories, it is rather an anti- climax to have 
to treat of the little island of Mauritius, which is not as large as 
the county of Surrey, and which, with the exception of its first 
Governor—Sir Robert Farquhar — has produced no great ad- 
ministrator, but has rather served as the happy hunting ground 
of peevish recreants, like the late Sir John Pope Hennessy. 
Mauritius was taken by the British from the French in 18 10. 
The French had known it by the name of Isle de France, but 
the British revived the older Dutch name of Mauritius. The 
French had introduced the sugar cane and other valuable 
plants, and these plantations were half-heartedly cultivated by 
means of slave labour until the slave trade was abolished. 
Then, in the '50's, Indian coolie labour was introduced with 
great success, and now the inhabitants of Indian descent in the 
colony number nearly 100,000, while Indian half-breeds are 
still more numerous. The European population is almost 
entirely of French descent, and the marked French sympathies 
of the white inhabitants have sometimes caused a dissonance 
between the Governor and the governed, though ample con- 
cessions have been made to the Mauritians by the equal 
recognition afforded to French laws and the French language. 
Nevertheless, in spite of these political questions, and the 
occasional hurricanes which visit the island with disaster, it is 
a prosperous colony in ordinary years, and only has to appeal 
to the Step-Mother Country for assistance on such rare occa- 
sions as when unusually great damage has been done by 
cyclones. 

Numerous small islands in the Indian Ocean are dependent 
on the Government of Mauritius. All had much the same 
history — discovered by Portugal, they were eventually utilized 
by France, and finally captured and annexed by England. The 
most important among these Mauritian dependencies are the 
Seychelles group, the Island of Rodriguez, and the Oil Islands 
Group (Diego Garcia). 



CHAPTER X. 



GREAT EXPLORERS. 

The colonization of Africa in all its earlier stages is so 
closely akin to exploration, that in several of the preceding 
chapters I have seemed to deal rather with geographical dis- 
coveries than with political settlement. But as there is much 
exploring work which has not been directly connected with 
colonization (just as all missionary work has not resulted in 
the foundation of European states in Africa, nor have measures 
for the suppression of the slave trade invariably given rise to 
annexation) I think it better to devote a chapter to the enume- 
ration of great explorers whose work has proved to be an 
indirect cause of the ultimate European control now established 
over nearly all Africa. 

The first explorers known to history, though not, unfortu- 
nately, mentioned by name, were those Phoenicians despatched 
by the Egyptian Pharaoh Necho (son of Psammetik) about 
600 B.C. to circumnavigate Africa. We only receive our know- 
ledge of them through Herodotus, who derived his information 
from Egypt; but the account given of the voyage bears the 
stamp of veracity and probability. 

Cambyses, the Persian king who invaded Egypt in 525 b.c., 
is said to have lost his life in endeavouring to trace the 
course of the Nile, he and his army having disappeared in 
the deserts of Upper Nubia. About 520 b.c Hanno the 



4 

I 



Chap, x.] Great Explorers, 191 

Carthaginian, as already related in Chapter I, conducted an 
expedition round the West coast of Africa, which penetrated 
about as far south as the confines of Liberia. 

The Greek Herodotus journeyed in Egypt and in the 
Cyrenaica about 450 b.c. Eratosthenes, a Greek, bom at 
Cyrene in 276 b.c., became the librarian of one of the Ptolemies 
at Alexandria, and, although he derived much of his informa- 
tion about the valley of the Nile from other travellers, still he 
conducted a certain amount of exploration himself. Polybius, 
a Greek, born in 204 B.C., explored much of the North coast 
of Africa in the service of the Romans about 140 years before 
the Christian Era. 

The celebrated Strabo flourished during the reign of 
Augustus Caesar, and wrote a great work on geography about 
the year a.d. 19. He accompanied the Roman governor 
iElius Gallus on a journey up the Nile as far as Philae, though 
his knowledge of the Cyrenaica was limited to a journey 
along the coast. Nero sent two centurions (according to 
Pliny) with orders to ascend the Nile and discover its source. 
Thanks to recommendations from the king of Ethiopia, they 
were passed on from tribe to tribe, and apparently ascended 
the Nile as far as its junction with the Sobat, where they were 
stopped by immense masses of floating vegetation (the sudd). 

Though PHny the Elder* does not appear to have visited 
Africa, or at any rate to have carried his explorations farther 
than a trip to Alexandria and visits to the ports along the 
Barbary coast, he nevertheless did much to collect and edit 
the geographical knowledge of the day ; and has thus trans- 
mitted to our knowledge the slender information which the 
Romans possessed of interior Africa during the early years of 
the Empire. Pliny is remarkable for having handed down to 
us the first mention of the Niger, which he calls Nigir or Nigris 

^ Caius Plinius Secundus: born at Verona or Como a.d. 23. His 
geographical publication or Natural History was published (says Sir 
E. Bunbury) in A.D. 77. 



102 Tlie Colonization of Africa. [Chap. 

and somewhat confounds with the humbler river Draa to the 
south of Morocco. 

About the middle of the second century of the Christian 
Era there flourished in Egypt the famous geographer called 
Claudius Ptolemaeus, better known to us as * Ptolemy.' Though 
he also was mainly a compiler and owed much of his informa- 
tion to the works on geography published by his predecessor 
or contemporary, Marinus of Tyre, yet it seems probable that 
he travelled up the Nile for a certain distance, and visited the 
African coasts along the Red Sea and the Mediterranean. At 
any rate he published the most extended account of African 
geography given by any classical writer. His account of the 
Nile lakes, of the East African coast and of the Sahara Desert 
are the nearest approach to actuality of any geographer before 
the Muhammadan epoch. 

With the decline of the Roman Empire came a cessation of 
all geographical exploration, and there was no revival until the 
Muhammadan invaders of Africa had attained sufficient civili- 
zation to record their journeys and observations. Masudi and 
Ibn Haukal in the loth century, and other Arab travellers 
whose wanderings have not been recorded, furnished from 
their journeys information embodied in the map of Idris or 
Edrisi drawn up by a Sicilian Saracen geographer for Count 
Robert of Sicily in the 12th century. By these journeys the 
first definite and reliable information about the geography of 
Africa south of the Sahara, and along the East coast to Zanzibar 
and Sofala was brought to European knowledge. Ibn Batuta, 
a native of Morocco, in the 14th century \ and Leo Africanus 
(a Spanish Moor who afterwards turned Christian), in the i6th 
century, had visited the Niger and the regions round Lake 
Chad. The geographical enterprise of the Moors communi- 
cated itself to their conquerors, the Portuguese. Besides their 
great navigators, the Portuguese sent out overland explorers, 

* Visited the Upper Niger in 1352. 



X.] Great Explorers, 193 

the first, named Joao Fernandez, having in 1445 explored the 
Sahara Desert inland from the Rio d'Ouro. It is stated that 
Pero d'Evora and Gon^alvez Eannes actually travelled overland 
in 1487 from Senegambia to Timbuktu ; but doubt has been 
thrown on their having reached this distant city; they may 
possibly have got as far as Jenne. Much more real and 
important were the explorations of Pero de Covilhao, who 
travelled in Abyssinia in 1490 on his return from India, and 
remained in that country for the rest of his life. Passing 
over Francisco Barreto, who explored Zambezia more for imme- 
diate political purposes in 1569 and subsequent years, we may 
next note the journey of a Portuguese gentleman named 
Jaspar Bocarro, who in 16 16 made a journey overland from 
the central Zambezi, across the river Shird, near Lake Nyasa 
and the Ruvuma river, and thence to the east coast at 
Mikindani. From Mikindani he continued his journey to 
Malindi by sea. In the 17th century two Portuguese Jesuit 
missionaries, Pedro Paez, and Jeronimo Lobo explored Abys- 
sinia, even far to the south. Paez visited the source of the 
Blue Nile, and Lobo directed his travels to the quasi-Christian 
states to the south of Abyssinia. Numbers of unnamed, unre- 
membered Portuguese soldiers and missionaries must have 
plunged into the interior of Africa between 1445 ^^'^ ^^ ^^^ 
of the 17th century, bringing back jumbled information of 
lakes and rivers and Negro states; but their information has 
perished — except in an indirect form — and their names are 
lost to history. 

In 1520 Andrew Battel, a fisherman of Leigh in Essex, was 
rescued from the Indians of Brazil by a Portuguese ship, which 
started for the coast of Angola to trade for slaves. The 
vessel reached Benguela at a time when it was being ravaged 
by the predatory " Jagas'." The Portuguese being obliged to 

^ Probably identical with the Ba-yaka or Wa-yaka of the Kwango 
river to the N.W. of Angola. 

J. A. 13 



194 T^f^ Colonization of Africa. [Chap. 

leave a hostage with the Jagas, left Battel behind, and in the 
company of these wild people he seems to have traversed much 
of the Congo country behind Angola before he eventually 
reached the coast again near a Portuguese fort, where he was 
allowed by the Jagas to leave them and return to his own land. 
He appears to have roamed over South-West Africa for nearly 
1 8 years, and he brought back with him fairly truthful accounts 
of the pigmy races, the anthropoid apes, and some of the big 
game which penetrates the interior of Benguela from the south. 

At the commencement of the 17 th century, William Lith- 
gow, a Scottish traveller, visited Tunis and Algeria. In 1618 
the London Company of Adventurers despatched George 
Thompson, who had already travelled in Barbary, to explore 
the river Gambia. During his absence up the river the ship 
by which he had come from England was seized, and the 
crew murdered by Portuguese and half-caste slave traders, who 
resented this invasion of their special domain. Thompson 
managed to send back word of his difficulties, and the Company 
of Adventurers sent out another small ship. After sending her 
back with letters, Thompson continued his journeys for a 
distance of about 80 miles above the mouth of the Cxambia. 
Thompson, however, lost his head, became fantastic in his 
notions, and is supposed to have been killed by the natives. A 
third vessel was sent out from London, commanded by Richard 
Jobson, to inquire after Thompson's fate. His first voyage, 
though he reached the point where Thompson had disappeared, 
was not very successful. On his return from Gravesend with 
two ships in 1620, he sailed up the Gambia to a place called 
Kasson, where dwelt an influential Portuguese who had been 
the instigator of the destruction of his predecessor's ship. This 
man fled at Jobson's approach, and the latter continued on his 
way till he reached Tenda, where Thompson had disappeared. 
He then travelled in boats far above the Barraconda Rapids. 

Then followed the journey of Jannequin de Rochefort and 
his companions in Senegal, and the still more important ex- 






I 



X.] Great Explorers, 195 

plorations of Briie and Campagnon in the same region, journeys 
which have been referred to in Chapter VII. During the 
reign of king Charles II a Dutch or Anglicized Dutch merchant, 
named Veimuyden, asserted that he had ascended the Gambia 
and reached a country beyond, full of gold, but the truth of 
this story is open to considerable suspicion. In 1723 Captain 
Bartholomew Stibbs, and later still a man named Harrison, 
repeated Jobson's explorations of the Gambia. In 17 20-^30 
Dr Shaw, an Englishman, travelled in Egjrpt, Algeria* and 
Tunis, and gave the first fairly accurate account of the Barbary 
States which had been received since they became Muham- 
madanized. About the same time, Sonnini, an Italian, explored 
Egypt, and gave the first modem account of that country. In 
1768-73 James Bruce, a Scotchman of good family, who had 
been educated at Harrow, and had spent two-and-a-half years 
as Consul at Algiers, travelled first in Tunis, Tripoli, and Syria. 
He then entered Egypt, and, becoming interested in the Nile 
question, he voyaged down the Red Sea to Massawa, and 
journeyed to Gondar, the capital of Abyssinia. Having some 
knowledge of medicine, he found favour with the authorities, 
and was given a command in the Abyssinian cavalry. After 
many disappointments, his ardent wish was granted, and he 
arrived at what he believed to be the sources of the Nile, but 
which really were the head waters of the Blue Nile, to the 
south of Abyssinia. He journeyed home by way of Sennar 
and the Nubian Desert to Cairo. In 1793 William George 
Browne, a Londoner, and a member of Oriel College, Oxford, 
attracted by the accounts of Bruce's travels, entered Egypt, 
and crossed the Libyan Desert from Asiut to Darfur in 1793. 
There he was treated extremely badly by the sultan of the 
country, and practically endured a captivity of three years 
before he succeeded in returning to Egypt. 

During the i8th century rumours had gradually been taking 
shape in the behef that there was a great river in Western 

^ Where he was British Chaplain. 

13—2 



I 

/ 

I 



196 The Colonization of Africa, [Chap. 

Africa on whose banks stood the famous city of Timbuktu. 
This river was identified with Pliny's Nigris or Niger \ At 
first it was thought that the Niger was the Gambia or Senegal, 
but at last it was believed that the Niger must rise southward, 
beyond the sources of these rivers, and flow to the eastward. 
Sir Joseph Banks, President of the Royal Society, who had 
accompanied Cook on his journey round the world, joined 
with other persons of distinction, and formed the African 
Association on the 19th of June, 1788, with the special object 
of exploring the Niger. At first they resolved to try from the 
North coast of Africa or from Egypt, but these expeditions 
proving unsuccessful, an attempt was made to march into 
the unknown from Sierra Leone. Major Houghton, who 
had been Consul in Morocco, was employed amongst other 
travellers, and he succeeded in passing through Bambuk on his 
way to Timbuktu ; but he was intercepted by the Moors of the 
Sahara, robbed, and left to die naked in the desert. From 
Egypt a German traveller named Frederic Hornemann was 
despatched by the same association. He reached Fezzan, 
set out on a journey to Bornu, and was never heard of 
afterwards". In 1795 the zealous Association accepted the 
services of a young Scotch surgeon named Mungo Park, and 
sent him out to discover the Niger from the West coast. 
Mungo Park started at the age of 24, having had a previous 
experience in scientific exploration as assistant surgeon on an 
East Indiaman, which had made a voyage to Sumatra. Park 
reached Pisania, a station high up the Gambia River, in 1795. 
He started at the end of that year, and after crossing the 
Senegal river and going through many adventures, he entered 

^ Pliny and one or two succeeding classical geographers mention the 
Ger or Gir and the Niger as rivers of Western Africa, the former being 
possibly the river Draa. Both words may be derived from Berber roots. 

^ It is said that he was the ancestor or a relative of the founder of a 
famous tea firm, whose tea — as the present writer can testify — is found on 
sale in the bazaars of the Saharan towns. 



X.] Great Explorers. 197 

the Moorish countries of Kaarta and Ludamar to the north- 
east. Hence, after enduring captivity and great hardships, he 
escaped, and gradually found his way to the Niger at Sego, 
and struggled along the river till he was within about 200 miles 
of Timbuktu. His return journey was attended by such hard- 
ships that one marvels at the physical strength which brought 
him through alive. However, at last he reached Bamaku, and 
thence after almost incredible difficulties returned to Pisania 
on the Gambia, about a year and a quarter after setting out 
thence to discover the Niger. Owing to his return voyage 
taking him to the West Indies, he did not reach England till 
the 22nd of December, 1797, after performing a journey which 
even if he had not subsequently become the Stanley of the 
Niger would have made him lastingly famous. London re- 
ceived him with enthusiasm, but after the first novelty had 
worn off a period of forgetfulness set in. Park married, and 
settled down in Peebles as a medical practitioner. But in 
process of time the influence of the African Association filtered 
even into the stony heart of a Government department, and 
it was resolved by the Colonial Office (then a branch of the 
War Office) to send Mungo Park back to continue his explora- 
tion of the Niger. He was given ;;^5,ooo for his expenses, and 
an ample outfit of stores and arms and other equipment He 
held a Captain's commission, and was allowed to select 
soldiers from the garrison of Goree. He took his brother-in- 
law with him as second in command, a draughtsman named 
Scott, and several boatbuilders and carpenters. At Goree he 
selected one officer, 35 privates, and two seamen. The party 
left the Gambia in 1805. They were soon attacked with fever, 
and by the time they had reached the Niger only seven out of 
the 38 soldiers and seamen who had left Goree were living. 
Descending the Niger past Sego, Mungo Park built a rough 
and ready kind of boat at Sansanding, which he named the 
Johba. By this time his party had been reduced to five, 
including himself. On the 12th of November, 1805, they set 



198 The Colonization of Africa, [Chap. 

out from Sansanding (whence they sent back to the Gambia 
their letters and. journals) to trace the Niger to its mouth. 
Mungo Park was never heard from any more. It was ascer- 
tained, by the information which could be subsequently gathered 
from native traders and slaves, that Mungo Park's party met 
with constant opposition from the natives in their descent of 
the river, with the result that they were continually fighting. 
After Mungo Park entered the Hausa-speaking countries of 
Sokoto the enmity of the natives increased, apparently because 
he was unable to pay his way with presents. At last, at Busa, 
where further navigation was obstructed by rocks, the natives 
closed in on him. Finding no way of escape, Park jumped 
into the river with Martin, and was drowned. After Park's 
death, Major Peddie, Captain Campbell, Major Gray, and Dr 
Dochard all strove to follow in Park's footsteps from the 
direction of the Gambia, but all died untimely deaths from fever, 
though Dr Dochard succeeded in reaching Sego on the Niger. 
The presence pf the Dutch in South Africa did not lead to 
great explorations. Such journeys as were made were chiefly 
parallel to the coast. In 1685 Commander Van der Stel 
explored Namakwaland within a very short distance of the 
Orange river ; but it was some 60 years later before that river 
was actually discovered by a Boer elephant hunter, and its 
discovery made known scientifically by an expedition under 
Captain Hop in 1701. This expedition obtained several 
giraffes, which were sent home by Governor Tulbagh, and 
were the first to reach Europe. In 1777 Captain Robert 
Jacob Gordon, a Scotchman in the service of the Dutch East 
India Company, discovered the Orange river at its junction 
with the Vaal. Subsequently Captain Gordon with Lieutenant 
William Patterson, an Englishman, made a journey overland 
from the Namakwa country to the mouth of the Orange river, 
which they ascended for 30 or 40 miles. They christened 
what the Dutch had hitherto called the '• Great (Groote) river" 
the " Orange river," out of compliment to the Stadhouder. 



X.] Great Explorers. 199 

There is also a rumour that two Dutch commissioners 
Truster and Sommerville went on a cattle- purchasing expedi- 
tion in 1 80 1 beyond the Orange river, and penetrated through 
the Bechuana country to the vicinity of Lake Ngami. 

Fired by the news of African discoveries, Portugal awoke 
from one of her secular slumbers in 1798 — as she similarly 
awoke in 1877 — and despatched Dr Francisco Jos^ Maria 
de Lacerda to the Zambezi, to attempt a journey across Africa 
from East to West. The results of this first really scientific 
exploration of Central Africa have been touched on in Chapter 
II. It may be sufficient to mention here that Dr de Lacerda 
travelled up the 2^mbezi to Tete, and from Tete, north- 
westwards to the vicinity of Lake Mweru, near the shores of 
which he died. He had been preceded by two Goanese of the 
name of Pereira. In the beginning of the present century two 
half-caste Portuguese named Baptista and Amaro Jos^ crossed 
Africa from the Kwango river, behind Angola, to Tete on the 
Zambezi. In 1831 Major Monteiro and Captain Gamitto 
repeated Dr de Lacerda' s journey from Tete to the Kazembe's 
country, near Lake Mweru, and in 1846 a Portuguese 
merchant at Tete named Candido de Costa Cardoso, claimed 
to have sighted the south-west corner of Lake Maravi (Nyasa). 
To return again to South Africa — British rule brought about 
a great development in exploration. Campbell, a Scotch 
missionary, in 181 2 laid down the course of the Orange river 
on the map and discovered the source of the Limpopo. 
Captain (afterwards General Sir J. £.) Alexander made an 
interesting journey overland from Cape Town to Walfish Bay ; 
Dr William Burchell and Captain William Cornwallis Harris* 
explored Bechuanaland and the Transvaal and added much to 
our knowledge of the great Afirican fauna. Moffat and other 



^ Afterwards Sir William C. Harris. He explored Shoa (South of 
Abyssinia) in 1841-2, and was knighted for concluding a treaty on behalf 
of the Government of India with the King of Shoa. 



200 The Colonization of Africa, [Chap. 

missionaries extended our knowledge of Bechuanaland : Angas 
illustrated Zululand : Major Vardon explored the Limpopo. 

In the first decade of the 19th century Henry Salt (formerly 
British Consul-General in Egypt) explored Abyssinia and the 
Zanzibar Coast. In 1822 Captain Owen left England with 
two ships, and spent four years exploring the East and West 
coasts of Africa, and the island of Madagascar. He especially 
added to our knowledge of Delagoa Bay and the vicinity. He 
directed the first voyage of discovery up the Zambezi, which 
unhappily ended in the death of all the Europeans. The 
limit reached was Sena. The east and west coasts of Africa 
were delimited by Captain Owen with the first approach to 
real accuracy. Although he was not an overland explorer, his 
voyage marks a most important epoch in African discovery, and 
many of his surveys are still in use. 

Mungo Park and others having entertained the idea that 
the Niger might find its ultimate outlet to the sea in the river 
Congo, an expedition was sent out in 181 6 to explore the 
Congo river. It was a naval expedition, of course, and the 
command was given to Captain Tuckey. He surveyed the 
river to the Yellala Falls, and carried his expedition inland to 
near these rapids, and the modern station of Isangila. Un- 
fortunately, he and nearly all the officers of his expedition died 
of fever, but his journey, being conducted on scientific lines, 
resulted in considerable additions to our knowledge of Bantu 
Africa, its peoples, languages, and flora. 

Major Laing, a Scotchman, who had already in 1823 
distinguished himself by exploring the source of the Rokel 
river of Sierra Leone, practically locating the source of the 
Niger and ascertaining its altitude, determined in 1825 to 
strike out a new departure in the search for Timbuktu. He 
started from Tripoli, journeyed to Ghadames and the oasis of 
Twat, and thence struck across the desert to the Niger over a 
route which may some day be followed by a French trans- 
Sahara railway. He was attacked on the way by the detestable 



X.] Great Explorers. 201 

Tawareq, who left him for dead, bleeding from twenty-four 
wounds. Still, he recovered, and actually entered Timbuktu 
on the 1 8th of August, 1826. Being advised by the people to 
leave because of their dislike to the presence of a Christian, 
he started to return across the desert, but was killed, it is 
supposed, at El Arwan by the bloodthirsty Tawareq. 

French names amongst explorers were wanting since the 
journeys of Briie and Campagnon at the beginning of the i8th 
centuiy, though Le Vaillant, as a naturalist, made small but 
very interesting explorations in South Africa. But with the 
beginning of the 19th century, and the recovery of their 
Senegalese possessions, Frenchmen resumed the exploration of 
the Dark Continent. In 1804 Rubault, an official of the 
Senegal Company, explored the desert country between the 
Senegal and the Gambia, and the upper waters of the Senegal. 
In 18 1 8 Gaspard Mollien discovered the source of the Gambia, 
and explored Portuguese Guinea. In 1824 and 1825 De 
Beaufort visited the country of Kaarta to the north-east of the 
Senegal. Then came Caille, who reached Timbuktu and 
returned thence to Morocco in 1827, a journey discussed for 
its political importance in Chapter VII. 

The British Government, still pegging away at the Niger 
country, was roused to fresh exertions by Cailld's journey. 
Impressed by the success with which Laing had penetrated 
Central Africa from Tripoli, it resolved to try that Regency^ as 
a basis of discovery. Mr Ritchie and Captain George Lyon 
started from Tripoli in 1818, and reached the country of 
Fezzan. Here Ritchie died, and Lyon did not get beyond the 
southernmost limit of that country. On his return a second 
expedition was organized under Dr Walter Oudney (who was 
actually appointed Political Agent to Bornu before that 
country had been discovered by Europeans!), Lieutenant 

^ Then nearly independent of Turkey, and ruled by the Karamanli 
dynasty of Turkish pashas. 






202 The Colonization of Africa, [Chap. 

Hugh Clapperton, and lieutenant Dixon Denham. Starting 
from Tripoli in the spring of 1822, they were compelled to halt 
there by the obstacles that were placed in their way. Denham, 
an impulsive, energetic man, rushed back to Tripoli to remon- 
strate with the £asha, and receiving nothing but empty verbal 
assurances, started for Marseilles with the intention of pro- 
ceeding to England, but he was recalled by the Basha of 
Tripoli, who henceforth placed no obstacles in his way. During 
his absence the expedition had visited the town of Ghat, far 
down in the Sahara. In 1823 this expedition reached the 
Sudan, and its members were the first Europeans to discover 
Lake Chad. They then visited Bomu and the Hausa state 
of Kano, where Dr Oudney died. After Oudney's death, 
Clapperton proceeded to Sokoto, and very nearly reached the 
Niger, but was prevented from doing so by the jealousy of the 
Fula sultan of Sokoto. Whilst Major Denham was remaining 
behind in Bornu there arrived with a supply of stores a young 
man named Toole, who had traversed the long route from 
Tripoli to Bornu almost alone, and had made the journey from 
London in four months. Denham and Toole explored the 
eastern and southern shores of Lake Chad, and discovered the 
Shari river, after which the unfortunate Toole died. Denham 
and Clapperton then returned to Tripoli ^ The British 
Government sent Clapperton back to discover the outlet of the 
Niger. He landed at Badagri, in what is now the British 
colony of Lagos. He lost his companions one by one, with 
the exception of his invaluable servant Richard Lander. 
Clapperton passed through Yorubaland, and actually struck 
the Niger at the Busa Rapids, near where Park and his 
company perished. From Busa Clapperton and his party 
travelled through Nupe, and the Hausa states of Kano and 

^ Denham, who had really rendered great services in the cause of 
exploration, was rewarded — in the contemptuous fashion of that day — with 
the post of Superintendent of the slave settlement at Fernando Po, where 
he soon died. 



X.] Great Explorers. 203 

Sokoto; but he arrived at an unfortunate time, when Sokoto 
was at war with Bornu, and the Fula sultan was much too 
suspicious of Clapperton's motives to help him in the explora- 
tion of the Niger. From fever and disappointment Clapperton 
died at Sokoto on the 13th of April, 1827. It was a great pity 
that he went there at all. What he should have done on 
reaching Busa was to work his way down from Busa to the sea. 
All his companions, except his servant Lander, had pre- 
deceased him. Lander now endeavoured to trace the Niger 
to the sea, but the Fula sultan still opposed him, and he was 
stripped of nearly all the ptoperty of the expedition before he 
could leave Sokoto. Eventually he made his way back to 
Badagri by much the same route that Clapperton had followed. 
Lander was a Cornishman, a man of short stature, but pleasing 
appearance and manners. He had had a slight education as 
a boy, but learned a good deal more in going but to service as 
page, footman, and valet. In this last-named capacity he had 
journeyed on the continent of Europe and in South Africa 
before accompanying Clapperton. When he returned to 
England his story did not arouse much interest, as Arctic 
explorations had replaced Africa, in the thoughts of a volatile 
society. Moreover, the ultimate course of the Niger had by a 
process of exhaustion almost come to be guessed aright. As \ 
far back as 1808 Reichardt of Weimar had suggested that the > 
Niger reached the Atlantic in the Gulf of Guinea through the 
Oil rivers. Later on James McQueen, who as a West Indian 
planter had cross-examined many slaves on the subject of the 
Niger, not only showed that this river obviously entered the 
sea in the Bight of Benin, but predicted that this great river 
would some day become a highway of British commerce. 
Somewhat grudgingly, the Government agreed to send Lander 
and his brother back to Africa, poorly endowed with funds. 
Not discouraged, however, the lenders arrived at Badagri in 
March, 1830, and reached the Niger at Busa after an overland 
journey of three months. Meeting with no opposition from 



204 The Colonization of Africa. [Chap. 

the natives, they paddled down stream for two months in 
canoes. At length they reached the delta, but there unfortu- 
nately fell into the power of a large fleet of Ibo war canoes. 
By the Ibos they were likely to have been killed but for the 
remonstrances of some Muhammadan teachers, who, oddly 
enough, were found with this fleet However, the king of 
Brass, a trading settlement on the coast, happened to be 
visiting the Ibo chief, and agreed to ransom the Lander 
brothers on condition of receiving from them a * bill ' agreeing 
to repay to the king the value of the goods which he had 
furnished for their redemption. They reached the sea at the 
mouth of the Brass river, one of the confluents of the Niger, 
but not the main stream. An English merchant ship was 
anchored there, the Landers went delightedly on board, 
thinking that the end of their troubles had come, and asked 
the captain to 'honour their bill the amount of which the 
Government would repay him. To their amazement he re- 
fused, and altogether behaved in such a disgraceful manner 
that it is a pity his name has not been preserved for infamy. 
However, they managed on this ship to get a passage across to 
Fernando Po, where they landed. The ship by which they 
travelled, and the master of which treated them so badly, was 
afterwards captured by a pirate and never heard of again. 

No great fuss was made over Lander when he returned in 
1 83 1. He afterwards joined the MacGregor Laird expedition 
for opening up the Niger. This commercial undertaking met 
with the most awful disasters from sickness, but MacGregor 
Laird nevertheless succeeded in discovering the Benue, and 
ascended it for some distance. In 1833 Lander and Dr 
Oldfield ascended the Niger from the Nun mouth as far as 
Rabba, and explored the Benue for 140 miles above its junc- 
tion with the Niger. After returning from a third trip up the 
Niger Lander was attacked by savages in the delta, and was 
severely wounded, dying from his wounds at Fernando Po on 
the 6th of February, 1834. 



X.] Great Explorers, 205 

In 1840-41 Mr Beecroft, superintendent of Fernando Po, 
and afterwards first consul for the Bights of Biafra and Benin, 
explored not only the Niger, but made known for the first time 
the Cross river, to the east, which he ascended from Old 
Calabar to the rapids. In 1841 the British Government sent 
out an important surveying expedition to the Niger under four 
naval officers. This expedition was despatched at the instiga- 
tion of Sir Thomas Fowell Buxton, the philanthropist, who 
had thrown himself heart and soul into the anti-slavery 
movement. At this period philanthropy reigned supreme in 
England, and a sense of humour was in abeyance, though it 
was beginning to bubble up in the pages of Dickens, who has 
so deliciously satirized this Niger expedition in "Bleak House" 
with its inimitable Mrs Jellyby and her industrial mission of 
Borriaboola-Gha. The ghastly unhealthiness of the lower 
Niger was ignored, and an item in the programme of the expe- 
dition was the establishment of a model farm at the junction of 
the Benue and the Niger. The other aims of the expedition 
were nicely balanced between the spreading of Christian 
civilization and the suppression of the slave trade on the one 
hand and the zealous pushing of Manchester goods on the 
other. Numerous treaties were made, but the results of the 
expedition were disappointment and disaster, occasioned by 
utter ignorance of the conditions under which a small degree 
of health might be retained, and a muddle-headed indecision 
as to the practical results which were to be secured by the 
opening up of the Niger. The loss of life was enormous. 
Still, in spite of this check, British traders gradually crept into 
and up the Niger, with the results detailed in Chapter VI, 

In 1836 John Davidson, an Englishman of considerable 
attainments, started from the Atlantic coast of Morocco for 
Timbuktu, but was murdered at Tenduf, in the Sahara Desert. 

In 1849 the British Government determined to make 
another effort to open up commercial relations with the Niger 
and Central Africa, but resolved again to try the overland 



206 The Colonization of Africa, [Chap. 

route from Tripoli. After the Napoleonic wars were finished, 
the British Government had sent out various surveying parties 
to map the coasts of Africa, and a well-equipped expedition 
under Admiral Beechey made a thorough investigation of the 
coasts of Tripoli and Barka in 182 1 and 1822, and sent back 
the first trustworthy accounts of the Greek ruins of the 
Cyrenaica. Since that time several consular representatives 
of Great Britain in Tripoli have carried on explorations in 
the interior. Among these was James Richardson, who had 
originally accompanied Admiral Beechey, and who further 
made most important explorations of the Tripolitan Sahara, 
discovering many interesting rock paintings and inscriptions. 
He was appointed to be the head of this overland expedition 
of 1849, and associated with him were two Germans, Barth and 
Overweg. Dr Henry Barth was born at Hamburg in the year 
182 1. He had travelled extensively in Asia Minor, in 
Mediterranean Africa, and up the Nile. 

This expedition left Tripoli in the spring of 1850, and 
reached Bornu without any difficulty. Here its members 
separated, Richardson died soon afterwards and was buried 
near Lake Chad. Overweg died in 1852, having been the 
first European to navigate Lake Chad\ He was buried on 
the shores of this lake. For the next four years Barth carried 
on gigantic explorations on his own account. He journeyed 
from Lake Chad along the river Komadugu, and thence across 
northern Hausaland to the Niger at Say. From Say he cut 
across the bend of the Niger to Timbuktu, and descended the 
river back to Say, and thence to Sokoto, from which he made 
his way to Kukawa in Bornu, where he met Dr Vogel and two 
non-commissioned officers of the Royal Engineers, who had 
been sent by the British Government to reinforce his expedi- 
tion. Barth had previously in 185 1 made a journey due 
south, and had struck the river Benue very high up its course. 
Vogel started to complete the discoveries in this direction, 

^ In a patent collapsible boat. 



5c.] Great Explorers. 207 

and eventually to make his way to the Nile. He was accom- 
panied by Corporal MacGuire, but the two quarrelled and 
parted, and both were murdered in the vicinity of Wadai. Dr 
Barth and the other non-commissioned officer made their way 
back across the desert to Tripoli and England. Earth's 
journey was productive of almost more solid information than 
that of any of the great African explorers, excepting Stanley, 
and possibly Junker, Schweinflirth and Emin Pasha. Besides 
the geographical information given, his book in five volumes 
and his various linguistic works on the Central Sudan languages 
represent an amount q( information that has not been suf- 
ficiently digested yet. Henry Bar th stands in the first rank of 
the very great explorers, a ciass which should perhaps include 
Mungo Park, Livingstone, Stanley, Sp eke and Grant. Burton . 
Baker, Schweinflirth, Nachtigal, RQhl£s, Jiinker, and Joseph 
TEomson; men who have not only made great geographical 
discoveries but who have enriched us as well with that informa- 
tion which clothes the dry bones of the mere delineation of 
rivers, lakes, and mountains. He received a somewhat 
grudging reward for his services in England. After some 
delay he was created a C.B., and then his existence was 
ignored by the Government, to whom still, and for many years 
to come, an African explorer, laying bare to our knowledge 
hundreds of thousands of square miles of valuable territory, 
was infinitely less worthy of remembrance than a Charg^ 
d'Affaires at the court of the Grand Duke of Pumpernickel. 
In 1858 a Morocco Jew named Mordokhai Abi-Serur^ made 
a journey from the south of Morocco to Timbuktu and after- 
wards resided in that city till 1862, thenceforward repeating his 
journeys thither until 1869. In 1830 the Church Missionary 
Society had sent emissaries to Abyssinia, who included among 
them latterly such men as Krapf and Rebmann. But these 
agents were expelled in 1842, and settled on the east coast of 

^ His name is spelt by the French *• Mardoch^e.** 




2o8 The Colonization of Africa. [Chap. 

Africa two years afterwards. Making Mombasa their head- 
quarters, Krapf and Rebmann executed some remarkable 
journeys into the interior of what was then an utterly unknown 
country. Rebmann in 1848 saw for the first time Kilima- 
njaro, the highest mountain in Africa, nearly 20,000 feet high. 
In 1849 Krapf not only sighted Kilima-njaro, but pushed his 
way much further north, and caught a glimpse of Mt Kenia. 
Besides these remarkable discoveries (the truth of which was 
strongly doubted by arm-chair geographers in England) they 
brought back with them such circumstantial accounts of the 
great Central African lakes as to lure others on to the explo- 
ration of these regions. 

During the '3o*s Abyssinia and Shoa were explored by 
Riippel (a German traveller who added greatly to our know- 
ledge of African natural history); during the *4o*s and '50's 
by the Frenchman d'Abbadie (who made the most elaborate 
surveys), by Sir W. Comwallis Harris; and later on by Theophile 
Le F^bvre, Mansfield Parkins, H. Dufton, and the geographer 
C. T. Beke. In 1856 Mr James Hamilton made a most 
interesting journey of exploration in the Cyrenaica, and thence 
travelled overland through the oasis of Siwa to Egypt. 

Meantime, in South Africa Livingstone had arisen. He 
had settled in Bechuanaland in 1841, and had gradually 
extended his journeys further and further north, until, in 
company with William Oswell and Murray, two English sports- 
men, he discovered Lake Ngami. Mr Francis Galton had 
attempted to reach this lake in 1851 by an interesting but 
very difficult journey through Damaraland; but he did not 
succeed in getting nearer to Ngami than the bed of a dried-up 
watercourse, the Omaramba. Andersson, a Swede, however, in 
1 85 1 left Walfish Bay, and travelling through Ovamboland, 
managed to arrive at the shores of Ngami. Green explored 
the lower course of the Okabango-Teoge in 1856. In 1851 
Livingstone, accompanied by his wife and family, and by 
Mr Oswell, reached the Zambezi at Sesheke. Feeling himself 



X.] Great Explorers. 209 

on the threshold of vast discoveries, Livingstone despatched 
his wife and family to England, with the monetary help of 
Mr Oswell, and placed himself under the tuition of Sir Thomas 
McClear, the Astronomer Royal at Cape Town. Turning his 
face northward in June 1852, he reached the Zambezi again in 
that year, traced it along its upper course, near to its source, 
and then travelled across to Angola, which he reached in May 
1854. Returning again from Angola to the Zambezi, he 
followed that river more or less closely to near its mouth, and 
then made his way to Quelimane by the route always followed 
until the recent discovery of the Chinde mouth of the Zambezi. 
From Quelimane he was conveyed by a British gunboat to \ ^ 
Mauritius, and arrived in London on the 12th of December, \ A 

1856. \r 

Somaliland had been first explored in 1854 ^jc** Richa rd ^^S^ 
Francis "R^ftnn a nd John Hanning Speke. Burton wasTHi ^ 
officer in the Indian army, ahcnia<l''pT evToiisly made a remark- 
able journey to the holy places of the Hedjaz, In 1856 the 
Royal Geographical Society (which had developed from out of 
the African Association in 1830) despatched an expedition 
under the command of Burton, who chose Speke for his 
lieutenant, to discover the great lakes which the German mis- 
sionaries reported to exist. As the result of this epoch-making 
exploration Burton discove r ed Tanganyika , (though he only 
mapped out the northern Tialf), and Speke discoverfi d.,the 
south shore of the Victoria Nyanza. Hurrying home before 
Burtonr"5pSfee""got the 'fear of the Geographical Society, and 
was at once sent back (with CaDtainT. A. Grant as his com- 
panion) to discover the sources of the Nile. Burton was 
rather hardly treated in the matter, but he was a man too 
clever for his times, and one who made many enemies 
among the pompous, respectable, retired merchants who in 
those days directed geographical exploration at home. Speke 
and Grant reached the southern end of the Victoria Nyanza, 
journeyed northwards and missed the Albert Nyanza, then, 

J. A. 14 



2IO The Colonization of Africa. [Chap. 

met and relieved by Sir S amuel Baker, travelled down the 
Nile to Egypt. It was a most remarkable journey, but in 
some senses a blundering one, remarkable as much for what 
was missed as for what was gained in exploration. Through 
not having made any survey of the vast lake they believed 
they had found, 'and not being able to give much idea of 
its shape or area, its very existence came afterwards to be 
doubted until it was conclusively established by Stanley. 
Speke and Grant had left England in April i860, and 
reached Khartum on the 30th of March, 1864, and England 
soon afterwards. Speke died from a gun-accident in Sep- 
tember 1864. Grant, afterwards made a Colonel and a 
C.B., accompanied the British expedition to Abyssinia, and 
lived till 1892. 

Prior to the journey of Speke and Grant down the Nile, 
that river had been already made known up to the vicinity of 
the great lakes by explorers following in the footsteps of the 
military expeditions sent by Muhammad All to conquer the 
Sudan. A Catholic mission had established itself on the 
Upper Nile in 1848, mainly supported by the Austrian Govern- 
ment, Amongst the missionaries was Dr Ignatius Knoblecher, 1 
who in 1849 explored the White Nile as far as Gondokoro and 
Mount Logwek. Other explorations were carried out by Gio- 
vanni Beltrame, another missionary. A Maltese ivory merchant 
named Andrea Debono and a Venetian named Giovanni Miani 
had also explored the White Nile, and the latter was the first 
European to visit the Nyam-nyam country. An English ivory ^ 
trader named Petherick had started from Khartum in November 
1853, and had ascended the Bahr-al-Ghazal River for some 
distance. He made other journeys into the unknown, more or 
less in the region of the Bahr-al-Ghazal and the Nyam-nyam 
country. He was entrusted with the mission of meeting and 
relieving Speke and Grant, but by some accident he failed to 
do so. On one of his later journeys he was accompanied by '' 
Dr Murie, a naturalist (who is one of the few early Nile 





X.] Great Explorers. 21 1 

explorers living at the present time), as far as Gondokoro. 
Heuglin, Kiezelbach, Munzinger, and Steudner were among 
the methodical German explorers who travelled in the Egyptian 
Sudan and in Abyssinia in 1861 and 1862. The greatest 
explorer of these regions, however, next to Speke and Grant, 
was Mr, a fterwards Sir Sa mjiel, B aker, who with his wife 
conducted an expioratTdrroTtTie Upper "Nile on his own account 
with the intention of meeting and if possible succouring Speke 
and Grant. Baker had previously explored the Abyssinian tribu- 
taries of the Nile. After leaving Speke and Grant to continue 
their homeward journey, he started oflf for the south to fill up 
the blanks in their discoveries. The Nile was reached in the 
Bunyoro country, and after a long detention at the court of the 
scoundrelly Nyoro king, and after incredible suflferings. Baker 
and his wife discovered the Albert Nyanza, which from various 
causes he took to be much larger than it really is. The 
entrance and the exit of the Nile from the Albert Nyanza were 
visited. The Bakers reached Gondokoro, and then returned 
homewards in March 1865. Their journey down the White 
Nile was blocked by the obstruction of a vegetable growth (the 
sudd). At last this was cut through, and Egypt was eventually 
reached. When Baker returned to London he was knighted 
for the discoveries he had made. The Albert Nyanza was 
afterwards circumnavigated by Gessi Pasha, a Levantine 
ItaUan in the service of the Egyptian Government, and by 
Colonel Mason Bey, neither of whom, curiously enough, 
oticed the Semliki flowing into the lake, nor did they catch 
ht of the snow-covered Ruwenzori. 

Li vingstone ^s first great journey resulted in his being sent 
bacC^lnth a strong expedition to pursue his discoveries in 
Zambezia. During these journeys between 1858 and 1864 the 
river Shire was explored, and Lake Nyasa was discovered and 
partially mapped. Livingstone was accompanied by Dr (after- 
wards Sir John) Kirk, who made most valuable natural history 

14 — 2 






212 The Colonization of Africa. [Chap. 

collections, and whose subsequent long career as Political 
Agent at Zanzibar and many explorations along the East coast 
of Africa have caused his name to be imperishably connected 
with that part of the continent. 

The French occupation of Algeria and their conquests in 
Senegambia had naturally produced considerable exploring 
work, though as much of this was done piece by piece it has 
not resulted in the handing down of notable names, with some 
few exceptions. Panet, a Frenchman, in 1850 travelled over- 
land along the Sahara coast from St Louis, at the mouth of the 
Senegal, to Morocco. Vincent, another Frenchman, in i860 
explored the country from St Louis to the Adrar district of the 
Sahara, behind what is nowadays the Spanish Protectorate o 
the Rio de Oro. Paul Soleillet described the Algerian Sahara, 
and Duveyrier, a really scientific traveller, made important 
journeys from Algeria southward and south-eastward, adding 
much to our knowledge of the Northern Sahara. Duveyrier 
visited the interior of western Tripoli, and brought back 
considerable information about the Tawareq and their 
dialects. 

In 1866 Livingstone resumed his explorations of East- 
Central Africa. He travelled overland south-westwards from 
the Ruvuma River to the south end of Lake Nyasa, then north- 
west and north to the south end of Tanganyika, thence from 
Tanganyika to Lake Mweru, to the mighty Luapula River, and 
to Bangweolo, which lakes and river he discovered in 1868. 
Again reaching Tanganyika, he joined some Arabs and crossed 
the Manyema country eastward to Nyangwe, on the Lualaba- 
Congo. From here he returned to Ujiji, where he was met by 
Mr H. M. Stanley, who had been sent out by the New York 
Herald to relieve the great explorer. After travelling with 
Stanley half-way back to Zanzibar, Livingstone returned to Lake 
Bangweolo, and died there in 1873. Various expeditions had 
been despatched to his relief. One under Lieutenant Grand y 



X.] Great Explorers. 213 

was sent out in 1873 *o ascend the Congo, but the expedition 
was most unfortunate, and the explorer died near Sao Salvador ^ 
After many changes and withdrawals, a great expedition, or- 
ganized by the Royal Geographical Society, started from 
Zanzibar in 1873 to find and relieve Livingstone. It was 
under the leadership of Lieutenant (afterwards Captain) Vemey 
Lovett Cameron . Cameron soon heard of Livingstone's death, 
but pushed on to Tanganyika, and mapped that lake for the 

, first time accurately. He then travelled across to the Lualaba, 

which his altitudes practically determined to be none other 

than the Upper Congo; but deterred from descending it by 

V. the tremendous difficulties that offered themselves, he struck 

^ south-westwards across a country not very difficult to traverse — 

the slightly civilized Mwata Yanvo's empire (impregnated with 
Portuguese influence), and reached Benguela in November ^ 

■r " 187^, the first Enfllighmtin itr n*^"" Africa. . v ^"^ 

At the beginning of the '6o's Dr Gerhard Ro hlfs, one of the ^^j^ * 
greatest of African travellers, began to explore Morocco. He had 
enlisted in the Foreign Legion serving in Algeria, was a doctor 
of medicine, a renegade, and had a great knowledge of Arabic. 

^ He therefore travelled about the southern part of Morocco, 

and penetrated to the oases of Twat and Ghadames in the 
Sahara (1864), and in 1865 reached Fezzan and Tibesti. In 
1866 he started on a journey to Bomu, and eventually pene- 
trated across the Niger to Lagos, on the Guinea coast, thus 
being the first European to make a complete journey from the 

4 Mediterranean to the Gulf of Guinea. In 1873 he explored 

the oases in the Libyan Desert, and in 1878 he conducted an 
expedition despatched by the German Government to Wadai, 
but got no further than the oasis of Kufra. Subsequently two 
Italians, Dr Pellegrino Matteucci and Lieutenant Alfonso 
Maria Massari, accompanied as far as Darfur by Prince 

L ^ Dr Bastian had explored the Lower Congo in 1858, and the region of 

Loango was examined by a German scientific expedition - in 1875-80 
(by Bastian, Pechuel Loesche, Falkenstein, and other German explorers). 






X 






214 TAe Colonization of Africa. [Chap. 

Giovanni Borghese, travelled across Africa from east to west 
by way of Suakin, Kordofan, Wadai, Bomu, Kano, and Nupe 
to the Niger, whence they returned to England, where Matteucci 
unfortunately died. They were the first Europeans to cross 
Africa from east to west, but their journey was not productive 
of much geographical knowledge. From the point of view of 
knowledge acquired and transmitted one of the most remark- 
able journeys ever made in Africa was that of Dr NachtigaJ , 
who after having served as physician to the Bey of Tunis was 
appointed in 1868 by the Prussian Govy"^"''^"1' to take pre- 
sents to the Sultan of Bomu. Leaving Tripoli in February 
1869, Nachtigal halted at first in Fezzan, and from that country 
made a very interesting journey to Tibesti, a mountainous 
region in the very middle of the Sahara Desert. He was the 
first and only European who has really examined this remark- 
able mountainous region. Returning to Murzuk, he resumed 
his journey to Bomu, where he arrived in 1870. He thoroughly 
explored Lake Chad, and much of the Shari River; visited 
Bagirmi, Wadai (where an earlier German traveller, Moritz von 
Beurmann, had been murdered in 1863, when searching for 
Vogel), Songhai, Darfur, Dar Runga, and Kordofan, thence 
retuming home through Egypt. He brought back with him 
an enormous mass of geographical and linguistic informa- 
tion. In his joumey from Tripoli to Fezzan Nachtigal was 
accompanied by an extraordinary personage, Miss Tinnd, 
perhaps — if she preceded Mrs Ida PfeitFer, who explored 
Madagascar in i860 — the first European woman to explore 
Africa on her own account ^ Miss Tinn^ was said to be the 
richest heiress in the Netherlands. She, her mother, and her 
aunt had been in the habit of passing their winters in Egypt. 
In 1861 they ascended the Nile as far as the Sobat River. In 
1863 a most important expedition was organised by Miss Tinnd, 

^ For it must not be forgotten that Livingstone, Samuel Baker, 
Petherick and Monteiro were accompanied by their wives on many of their 
journeys. 



X.] Great Explorers. 215 

consisting of her mother and aunt, three German gentlemen, 
and herself. They set out to explore the Bahr-al-Ghazal, and 
finally reached the Nyam-nyam country. They were accom- 
panied even by European ladies' maids, and 200 servants. By 
July 1864, on returning to Khartum, Miss Tinnd had lost, 
through fever, her mother, her aunt, and one of the German 
explorers. She then travelled alone for four years in North 
Africa. Determining to make an expedition to Lake Chad, 
she attached herself to Nachtigal's expedition as far as Murzuk. 
Afterwards, travelling on by herself, she was treacherously 
attacked by the Tawareq of the Sahara, and murdered ; for it 
was supposed that the iron water tanks carried on camels were 
full of treasure. What became of the unfortunate maidservants 
she had with her, history does not relate. They probably led 
for a few years an indescribably wretched existence as the 
wives of Tawareq raiders. So perished one of the most 
picturesque of African explorers — Alexandrine Tinnd 

On the West coast of Africa the most remarkable journeys 
made in the '50's and '6o's were those of Paul du Chaillu, who 
travelled in the Gaboon country, and whose natural history 
collections almost surpass those of any other traveller for their 
richness and the remarkable forms they revealed. He will 
always be remembered as the man who practically discovered 
the gorilla. Winwood Reade, the first African traveller who 
was at the same time a literary man, visited the west coast of 
Africa in the '6o's, and travelled inland to the source of the 
Niger. His exploring journeys were of small account, but his 
descriptions of West Africa are the most vivid, the most truthful, 
and will perhaps prove to be the most enduring, of any that we 
possess. Captain Richard Burton of Tanganyika fame, who 
had been appointed Consul at Fernando Po, ascended the 
peak of the Cameroons, and visited' Dahome and the falls of 
the Congo between i860 and 1864. The Marquis de Com- 
pidgne and Herr Oskar Lenz explored the Ogowe River, in 
French West Africa, in 1873 ; and later on Mr Grenfell, of the 



V 



2i6 The Colonization of Africa. [Chap. 

Baptist Mission (afterwards to become still more famous), con- 
siderably increased our knowledge of the Cameroons. 

Livingstone's death and Cameron's successful crossing of 
Africa did a great deal to arouse European interest in that 
continent Stanley was despatched by the New YorH Herald 
and the Daily Telegraph to complete Livingstone's explora- 
tions of the Unknown River. In 1875 ^^ started on that 
journey which in its discoveries and its results is the greatest 
to be found in the annals of African exploration. He circum- 
navigated the Victoria Nyanza, circumnavigated Tanganyika, 
marched across to the Lualaba, and followed its course reso- 
lutely and in the teeth of fearful obstacles until he proved- it to 
be the Congo, and emerged on the Atlantic Ocean. 

Cameron's journeys had aroused the Portuguese from their 
lethargy. Three explorers, Serpa Pinto, Brito Capello, and 
Roberto Ivens, were despatched to Angola. Leaving Sao 
Paulo de Loanda in 1877, Serpa Pinto journeyed in zigzags to 
the Zambezi, and descended that river to the Barutse country, 
whence he accompanied M. Coillard, the French missionary, 
across the Kalahari Desert to the Transvaal. Capello and 
Ivens explored the northern part of Angola and the River 
Kwango. Two or three years later they started on a journey 
remarkable for the importance of the geographical results 
obtained. They explored much of the Upper Zambezi, tracing 
that river to its source, travelled along the water-parting be- 
c tween the Zambezi and the Congo, and then turned southwards 
^, again to the Zambezi, and so out to the Indian Ocean. 
-N, In the Nile regions explorations were steadily continuing. 

~ One of the * great' African travellers ^ GeQrg Aup ist Schwein- 
^ fiirth, a native" Of 6'en!!afi'T[ussia (Riga), first visiteHnthe 
Nile valley as a botanist. In 1868 he started on a journey 
of exploration up the White Nile and the Bahr-al-Ghazal, 
accompanying Nubian ivory merchants. With these he pene- 
trated far to the southwards through the Nyam-nyam country 
till he reached the Monbuttu, and there he discovered the 



X.] Great Explorers. 217 

Welle River flowing to the west, which ultimately turned out 
to be one of the principal feeders of the Ubangi, the great 
northern confluent of the Congo. Schweinfurth returned to 
Egypt in 1872, and has since devoted himself to the botanical 
exploration of Egypt, Arabia and Abyssinia. His journey, from 
the enormous amount of material. gathered together, was sur- 
passed in importance by few African explorations. Sir Samuel 
Baker (i868-'73) and later General Gordon became Governors- 
General of the Egyptian Sudan, a vast dependency of the 
half-European state of Egypt, which naturally, whether under 
European or Egyptian governors, employed large numbers of 
Europeans. Amongst those who added to our geographical 
knowledge were Colonel Purdy-Bey, Colonel Colston, the great 
General Gordon, Mamo (a Viennese); Colonel Chaill^ Long (an 
American), who visited Uganda, discovered Lake Ibrahim, and 
actually proved that the Nile flowed out of the Victoria Nyanza, 
and then into the Albert Nyanza; and Linant de Bellefonds, a 
Belgian, who also visited Uganda whilst Stanley was there in 
1875, Stanley giving him a famous letter to be posted in 
Egypt ^' There were also Colonel Mason Bey and Gessi 
Pasha, who circumnavigated the Albert Nyanza; poor Lupton 
Bey, who explored the Bahr-el-Ghazal and Nyam-nyam country 
and died after long captivity in the Mahdi's hands ; and Slatin 
Pasha, once Governor of Darfur, who has had a happier fate. 

The establishment of missions in Nyasaland drew explorers 
thither. Captain Frederic Elton, who had been appointed 
Consul at Mozambique, journeyed to Lake Nyasa with several 
companions, explored the northern extremity of the lake, and 

^ This was the letter which Stanley wrote to England appealing to 
missionaries to come out and settle at the court of the King of Uganda. 
It was taken away by Linant de Bellefonds to be posted in Egypt. After 
leaving Uganda, de Bellefonds was killed by the Bari on the Upper Nile. 
Stanley's letter was concealed in one of the boots of the corpse when 
it was recovered. It was handed to General Gordon, and transmitted by 
him to England. 




21 8 The Colonization of Africa. [Chap. 

started to return overland to Zanzibar, but died on the way. 
His successor as Consul, Lieutenant H. E. O'Neill, crossed 
backwards and forwards over utterly unknown ground between 
Mo9ambique and Nyasa, fixed many positions at the. south 
end of the lake and in the Shire Highlands, and explored many 
parts of the Portuguese East Africa north of the Zambezi. 
Bishop Steere, Archdeacon Chauncey Maples, Bishop Smythies, 
and other missionaries of the Universities' Mission also explored 
the country between Lake Nyasa and the River Ruvuma and 
the Mozambique coast. South of the Zambezi, explorations 
had been carried out by Baldwin, Baines, Anderson, Ericsson, 
and other sportsmen-travellers. Carl Mauch and Edward 
Mohr (Germans) had explored Mashonaland, and had dis- 
covered the remarkable ruins of Zimbabwe. In 1875 Dr Pogge 
had made a journey from Angola to the court of the Mwata 
Yanvo. Two other Germans, named Reichardt and Bohm, 
had in the later '70's crossed Tanganyika from Zanzibar, and 
explored the country to the north of Lake Mweru. 

A remarkable journey was made in 1878—9 by Dr 
R. W. Felkin, who with one or more missionary companions 
of the Church Missionary Society journeyed overland from 
Suakin up the Nile to Uganda. They came back again (with 
the Rev. C T. Wilson) in 1881 from Uganda wi the White 
Nile, Bahr-al-Ghazal and Darfur to Egypt. 

The return of Cameron and the subsequent success of 
Stanley had caused the King of the Belgians to become 
intensely interested in the exploration of Africa, at first, no 
doubt, from a disinterested love of knowledge, but soon after- 
wards with the definite idea of creating in the unoccupied parts 
of that continent a huge native confederation or state which 
should become dependent on Belgium. The king summoned 
to Brussels distinguished 'Africans' from most European 
countries with the desire of forming an International Committee 
which should bring about the complete exploration of Africa. 
But this international enterprise soon split up into national 



X.] Great Explorers, 219 

sections, and what the King of the Belgians had intended 
should be entirely disinterested geographical work ultimately 
developed into the " Scramble* for Africa." Still, it did lead 
considerably to the increase of geographical knowledge. The 
Royal Geographical Society sent out a well-equipped expedition 
to Zanzibar to explore the country between Tanganyika and 
Nyasa. It was under the orders of Keith Johnston, who 
died soon after starting, leaving his task to be fulfilled by 
Joseph Thomson. Mr Thomson was completely successful, 
and covered much new ground between Nyasa and Tanganyika 
to the west of Tanganyika, and to the south, where he dis- 
covered the north end of Lake Rukwa*. On the West coast 
the French Section despatched De Brazza to explore what is 
now French Congo. His geographical discoveries led to 
annexation. Antonelli and other Italians directed their efforts 
to the exploration of Shoa, to the south of Abyssinia. But 
the main outcome of this action on the part of the King of the 
Belgians was the founding of the Congo Free State. Mr 
Stanley was sent back to the Congo at the expense of a small 
committee — eventually at the sole charge of the King of the 
Belgians. Whilst he was by degrees reascending the Congo 
and making many geographical discoveries, such as the I^akes 
Leopold and Mantumba, a Baptist missionary already referred 
to, Mr George Grenfell, made known the Ubangi River, a 
northern affluent of the Congo, which Vangble and other 
Belgian explorers afterwards determined to be the Welle. 
Lieutenant Hermann Wissmann (afterwards Major von Wiss- 
mann) mapped out the course of the Kasai, and other southern 
affluents of the Congo^ and crossed and recrossed Africa^ 
coming out at Zanzibar and at the Zambezi. 

In 1879 Dr Oskar Lenz, who had previously explored the 
Ogowe, journeyed from Morocco to Timbuktu, and from 
Timbuktu to Senegambia. Subsequently Dr Lenz ascended 

^ The author and Dr Cross discovered the south end of this lake 
in 1889. 



V 



1 



220 The Colonization of Africa. [Chap. 

the Congo, and crossed over to Tanganyika, returning to 
Europe by the Zambezi on a more or less futile attempt to 
discover the whereabouts of Emin Pasha. In the earlier '8o's 
another Austrian explorer, Dr Holub, travelled in South Africa 
and made an unsuccessful journey into Central Zambezia. 
The celebrated hunter of big game, Mr F. C. Selous, not only 
added much to our knowledge of South Central Africa (the 
Rhodesia of to-day), but penetrated north of the Zambezi into 
the valley of the Kafue river, his explorations in that direction 
having only been "caught up with" quite recently. Mr F. S. 
Amot, a missionary, made a remarkable journey from South to 
Central Africa, exploring the southern part of the Congo basin 
(Katanga) and reaching the west coast at Benguela. In 1884 
Lieutenant Giraud, a Frenchman, made an interesting journey 
to Lake Bangweolo, which he was the first European to map 
with any degree of accuracy. In 1882 the Earl of Mayo, 
accompanied by the present writer, explored the River Kunene, 
in South-West Africa. Subsequently the author of this book 
travelled through Angola and up the River Congo, and on his 
return journey to England visited that little known part of 
Africa, Portuguese Guinea. He was subsequently sent on an 
expedition to Mt Kilima-njaro, in East Africa. Amongst other 
geographical work he visited little known parts of Tunis in 
1880 and 1897; discovered (with Dr Cross) the southern end 
of Lake Rukwa, in East-Central Africa, in 1889; in 1886-88 
explored the Cameroons and the Niger Delta; and made 
numerous journeys in British Central Africa (1889—95). 

Tn TJ^Sj, J^g^ph T|)f>nr>Rnnj already famous as an African 
explorer, was sent on a most important mission by the Royal 
Geographical Society. He was to cross the nearly unknown 
country separating the Mombasa littoral from the east coast of 
the Victoria Nyanza, between the two great snow mountains 
of Kenia and Kilima-njaro (Kilima-njaro since Krapf*s and 
Rebmann's reports had been thoroughly mapped by Baron von 
der Decken : it had also been ascended nearly to the snow level 



X.] Great Explorers. 221 

by Mr Charles New). Mr Thomson's visit to Rilima-njaro 
nearly coincided with that of the present writer, and was of 
short duration. He practically rediscovered Kenia (Krapfs 
account being so vague that it had become regarded as semi- 
mythical) and photographed this second greatest snow mountain 
of Africa. After some difficulties he succeeded in penetrating 
the Masai country, and discovered the great Rift valley of 
Lake Naivasha, together with Lake Baringo, and succeeded in 
reaching the north-east coast of Victoria Nyanza — a most 
remarkable journey, resulting in great additions to our geogra- 
phical knowledge. Mr Thomson subsequently made a journey 
from the mouth of the Niger to Sokoto, explored the Atlas 
Mountains of Morocco, mapped much fresh country in Central 
Zambezia, and died, still a young man and much regretted, in 
1895. The Hungarian, Count Samuel Teleki, who followed in 
Thomson's footsteps, discovered Lakes Rudolf and Stephanie. 
Lieutenant Hiihnel, who went with him, accompanied other 
expeditions in the same direction and accomplished admirable 
surveying work. 

Then came the last epoch-making journey of Stanley — the 
search for Emin Pasha. After the British occupation of Egypt 
and the loss of the Sudan, Emin Pasha had retreated to the 
Equatorial Province. Through Dr William Junker (a Russian 
traveller, who had made journeys of the first rank in the 
western watershed of the Nile, and had brought back an 
immense mass of valuable information) he managed to com- 
municate with Europe by way of Uganda, making known his 
condition, and appealing for help. Stanley was placed at the 
head of a great English expedition which was to go to his 
relief. He travelled by way of the Congo, and at the junction of 
the Congo and the Aruwini entered the unknown. He crossed 
that always difficult barrier, the Bantu borderland — in this case 
an almost impenetrable forest After overcoming innumerable 
obstacles, Stanley met Emin Pasha on the Albert Nyanza, 
and eventually escorted him to the coast at Zanzibar. In the 



/ 



222 The Colonization of Africa. [Chap. 

course of this journey Stanley discovered Ruwenzori, the third 
highest mountain in Africa, the Albert Edward Nyanza (one 
of the ultimate lake sources of the Nile), and the Semliki 
River, which connects the Albert Edward with the Albert 
Nyanza. 

In West Africa, which had for some time been neglected 
as a field for exploration, there still remained gaps to be filled 
up — ^in the great bend of the Niger, and behind the Cameroons. 
In the last-named country German travellers, Dr Zintgraft, 
Morgen, Kund and Tappenbeck, Von Stettin, Uechtritz and 
Passarge, explored the mountainous country between the 
Cameroons and the Benue watershed, or traced the course 
of the great and hitherto quite unknown rivers of Lom and 
Mbam, which unite and form the Sanaga, a river which enters 
the sea on the south side of the Cameroons estuary. Dr 
Baumann^ also explored the neglected island of Fernando Po. 
In the bend of the Niger various French explorers and one 
or two Germans and Englishmen filled up the blanks. Notable 
among these was Captain Binger, who was the first to make 
known much of the country between the Upper Niger and the 
Guinea coast, and Colonel Monteil, who travelled across from 
the Upper Niger to the Central Niger, and thence to Lake 
Chad and Tripoli (1894). The gap between the basin of the 
Congo and Lake Chad was partly filled up by the explorations 
of Crampel, Dybowski, Maistre, Gentil, and other French 
travellers. 

To come down to quite recent times, Mr Alfred Sharpe 
(now H.M. Commissioner in British Central Africa) gradually 
mapped Lake Mweru, discovered the large salt marsh be- 
tween that lake and Tanganyika, explored the Luapula and 
the Luangwa, and made other interesting discoveries in South- 
Central Africa, discoveries since supplemented by the survey 

^ Baumann made a careful examination of the mountainous country of 
Usambara in East Africa, and mapped the lands due west of the Victoria 
Nyanza. 



^ 



X.] Great Explorers, 223 

of Lake Bangweolo by Mr Poulett Weatherley. M. Lionel 
Ddcle, the well-known French traveller, made a journey from 
Cape Town overland to the White Nile, by way of Lakes 
Njrasa, Tanganyika, and Victoria Nyanza. Count Goetzen 
explored the unknown country between Lake Albert Edward 
Nyanza and Tanganyika, discovering the lofty volcano of 
Virunga and Lake Kivu; and Mr Scott Elliott journeyed from 
the east coast to Mt Ruwenzori, and thence to British Central 
Africa for botanical purposes. 

The great eastern horn of Africa, Somaliland and Gallaland, 
was long left unexplored after Burton and Speke's journey to 
Harrar in the '50's. At the beginning of the *8o's its ex- 
ploration was again attacked. Messrs F. L. and W. D. James, 
with three companions, penetrated Somaliland as far south as 
the Webbe Shebeili River. They were followed in exploration 
by Ruspoli, Bricchetti-Robecchi, Bottego (Italians) and R^voil 
and Borelli (Frenchmen). The last-named made a most 
important journey south from Abyssinia, and discovered the 
Omo River. His account of his travels, published by the 
French Government, is an almost perfect exemplar of what 
such a work should be. Mr W. Astor Chanler, an American, 
afterwards made a very important exploration of Gallaland, 
north of the Tana River. Dr J. W. Gregory, of the British 
Museum, travelled to Lake Baringo and Kenia, which mountain 
he ascended higher than any preceding explorer. Dr Gregory's 
journey was productive of much information regarding the 
geology of the countries traversed. Dr Donaldson Smith (an 
American) travelled over these countries between Somaliland 
and Bantu, East Africa, bringing back much new information. 
Captain Swayne has explored the interior of Somaliland; 
Lieutenant Vandeleur has surveyed Uganda and Unyoro 
(where also Major Macdonald, the late Captain B. L. Sclater 
and Captain Pringle, R.E., have done excellent surveying work); 
and Mr H. Cavendish has just performed a remarkable journey 
right across the eastern horn of Africa. 



224 ^^ Colonization of Africa. [Chap. x. 

In this review of explorers many names have been omitted, 
and only the leading journeys have been touched on. A great 
deal of the existing map of Africa has been quietly and un- 
ostentatiously compiled by patient officials, whose work has 
often been anonymous, and who have done much to correct 
and complete the lightning-flash streaks across the darkness of 
unexplored Africa drawn by the great pioneers. 

Civilized Africa will some day recognize the great debt 
which is owed to the explorers of the 19th century, the record 
of whose sufferings, and not unfrequent martyrdoms, is grander 
in its enthusiastic heroism than even the annals of Christian 
missionaries, with whose work it is closely associated. 



? 



CHAPTER XI. 



BELGIAN AFRICA. 



It has been already related in the preceding chapter how 
the geographical ardour of the King of the Belgians resulted 
in the sending of Stanley with an important expedition to 
explore the Congo. In 1879 from out of the African Inter- 
national Association there grew the Comit^ d'^tudes du Haut 
Congo, which projected the idea of Stanley's concluding in its 
name treaties with the paramount chiefs of the Congo region, 
treaties by means of which these chiefs should agree to join in 
a sort of confederation for purposes of mutual support, while at 
the same time they admitted into their territories the traders 
who would be sent out by this committee, which was in 
some sort to become the suzerain of this Congo Federation. 
Mr Stanley appears to have been under the impression that 
the final protectorate over the central Congo would be a British 
one; until 1884 few people seemed to think that the King of 
the Belgians would make himself the sovereign of the Congo. 
In the early years of the '8o's a kind of Anglo-French duel 
had taken place on the Congo, De Brazza representing the 
French interest and Stanley the English. When it began to 
dawn on the British Government that the King of the Belgians 
was working for purely Belgian interests it occurred to them 
that there was no reason why England and Portugal might not 
come to terms, at any rate about the Lower Congo. So the 

J. A. 15 



226 The Colonization of Africa, [Chap. 

abortive treaty of 1884 was drawn up, but not ratified. Believing 
that this was a preliminary to a British Protectorate of the 
Congo, France and Germany joined hands, and a Conference 
on African affairs was convened at Berlin, the first of a long 
series of actions taken jointly by the other states of Europe 
to check the extension of British influence. 

At the Berlin Conference of 1884-5 the Congo Free State 
was recognized by all the leading powers of Europe as a 
sovereign state with the King of the Belgians at its head. 
Before giving her consent, however, France is said to have 
reserved to herself the right of preemption over these Congo 
territories, besides securing by an agreement with the King of 
the Belgians a large portion of western Congoland. Mr Stanley 
then ceased to administer the Congo Free State, and was suc- 
ceeded first by Sir Frederick Goldsmid, and then by Sir Francis 
De Winton, who governed for the King of the Belgians, but gave 
a distinctly English tone to the administration. Gradually how- 
ever the international character of the state was dropped, and 
the British, French, Portuguese, Swedish and German officials 
were replaced by Belgians, so that by about 1890 the entire 
administration was Belgian. Mr Stanley, however, once more 
intervened (in 1887) in the affairs of the Free State, which had 
got into great difficulties owing to the attacks of the Zanzibar 
Arabs on the Upper Congo. Mr Stanley temporized, seeking 
to gain time for the young state, and recognized Tipu Tipu^, 
the leading Arab, as Governor for the King of the Belgians 
over the Upper Congo. Tipu Tipu withdrew about 1890, when 
the Arab revolt against the Germans had caused grave tension 
between the Arabs and Europeans in Central Africa. After 
his withdrawal, the Arabs, who had now become extremely 
powerful in the Upper Congo, attacked the Belgians, and 
massacred several outposts. The forces of the State — largely 
composed of Congo natives with a few Hausas from the 

• ^ Hamed bin Muhammad bin Juma, nicknamed Tipu Tipu or 
"Tippootib." 



XI.] Belgian Africa. 227 

intenor — were ably led by Belgian officers, remarkable among 
whom was Lieutenant Dhanis, who in the year 1892 commenced 
against them a noteworthy campaign, which ended in the cap- 
ture of Nyangwe and the eventual conquest of the whole of 
the country up to the west shores of Tanganyika, and the death 
or expulsion from Congoland of all the Arab leaders. This 
brings down the history of the Congo Free State to 1894. 

During this time most of the indigenous products, like 
ivory and rubber, having been constituted State monopolies, 
commerce was chiefly restricted to the State, and to various 
Belgian firms, though the commerce of the Lower Congo still 
remained open to the merchants of all nations. This policy 
on the part of the Congo Free State, which on the strength 
of its philanthropic assurances had obtained permission in 
1 89 1 to levy import duties, was much criticized, and led to 
some alienation of sympathy in England. Added to this were 
the extraordinary stories of atrocities spread by British, German, 
and Swedish missionaries. It was said that to enforce the 
payment of tribute in rubber the Belgian officers ordered their 
negro subordinates to cut off the hands of all who refused 
payment. It was stated that the natives were plunged into a 
slavery worse than anything the Arabs had introduced, that 
they were shot down for trifling causes, and that the police 
and soldiers of the Free State were allowed without hindrance 
to devour the bodies of the slain in battle. These charges 
in some cases were scarcely credible as applied to the actions 
of civilized human beings ; but the King of the Belgians at 
once instituted a committee to inquire into them, and in some 
slight degree they were supported by evidence. The charge 
of permitting cannibalism was substantiated by the accounts 
of Captain S. L. Hinde, who had served in the Congo Free 
State forces as a military surgeon. The fact is that a territory 
nearly as large as Brazil was handed over to a number of 
young Belgian officers to govern. The men whom they em- 
ployed in their administration and warfare were savages barely 



228 The Colonization of Africa, [Chap. 

reclaimed from the most barbarous practices : and just as, in a 
far less degree, the Matabele police of the British South Africa 
Company were guilty of malpractices that the Company would 
never knowingly have allowed to be perpetrated, so the soldiers 
of the Congo Free State committed the most appalling out- 
rages before the State could become cognizant of their actions 
and prevent them. About two years after the defeat of the 
Arabs, Lieutenant Dhanis, who had been made a Baron, had 
to face and overcome a terrible mutiny among the Congo Free 
State troops, mostly Manyema and Batetela, recruited from the 
eastern portion of the territory. This revolt is not even yet 
wholly subdued. In 1892, the King of the Belgians, alarmed 
by the progress of the British South Africa Company, sent out 
an expedition under Captain Stairs (an English officer — ^a Nova 
Scotian) to occupy in his name the territory of Katanga, which 
was a debateable land, to some extent under British missionary 
influence, but claimed as lying within the boundaries of the 
Congo Free State. Its king was an Mnyamwezi adventurer and 
slave trader ; nevertheless he had ruled his country with a cer- 
tain degree of wisdom, and had permitted British missionaries 
to settle there, and British travellers to explore; therefore it 
was learned with some regret that he had been summarily shot 
for refusing to hand over his territory to the Belgians. Not 
content with the gigantic territory already under his control, 
the King of the Belgians aspired to extend it to the banks 
of the White Nile. In 1894 a somewhat unfortunate agree- 
ment was concluded with the British Government by which, 
in exchange for a strip of territory which would enable the 
latter to connect the north end of Tanganyika with Uganda, 
the King of the Belgians took over on lease the administration 
of territories as far north as the Bahr-al-Ghazal and the White 
Nile. But this settlement was practically annulled by the 
subsequent Belgian convention with France, which restricted 
the northern boundary of the Congo Free State to the Mbomu 
affluent of the Welle River, while the King of the Belgians 



XI.] Belgian Africa. 229 

retained the le^e of a small patch of territory on the West 
bank of the White Nile, opposite Lado. 

Another event in the recent history of the Congo Free 
State, which has caused some anger in England, was the 
summary execution of the unfortunate Mr Stokes by a Belgian 
officer named Lothaire. Mr Stokes (who was an Ulster 
Irishman) had once been a missionary, and used to travel 
backwards and forwards to Uganda. He then set up for 
himself as a trader, and although a British subject he was 
sufficiently international in his sympathies to work for the- 
Germans in helping to found their East African colony. In 
the course of his ivory-trading expeditions he entered the 
Congo Free State. It was suspected by Lothaire that he was 
furnishing the Arabs with powder; he therefore sent a mes- 
senger to Stokes, summoning him to his camp. Stokes came 
unsuspecting. He was put through a cross-examination over 
night, and in the early morning taken out of his hut and 
hanged. In plain language, he was murdered. For not 
only did he receive no trial, but at that time, and even at 
the present day, British consular jurisdiction was maintained 
in the Congo Free State, and at no time was sufficient 
evidence brought forward to show that Stokes had sold any 
powder to the Arabs, or done anything worthy of death. 
Major Lothaire was tried for the murder of Stokes both at 
Boma and again at Brussels, but was pronounced not guilty 
at each trial, and was regarded by a portion of the Belgian 
press as having been a national hero. He was, however, 
dismissed from the service of the Congo Free State, and an 
indemnity of ;£^6ooo was paid to the child of Stokes. 

In the present year a railway (about 335 miles long), con- 
necting the Lower Congo at Matadi with the Central Congo 
at Stanley Pool, has been opened for traffic, and will probably 
have an extraordinary effect on the development of the Congo 
Free State. Ocean-going steamers can ascend the river as far as 
Boma, the capital of the State, and craft of considerable size 



230 The Colonization of Africa, [Chap. xi. 

can proceed to Matadi. After Stanley Pool has been reached 
by railway there are between two and three thousand miles 
of unobstructed river navigation right into the heart of Africa, 
and even to the vicinity of the Egyptian Sudan. 

There is a great future before the Congo Free State, and 
there is no reason whatever why gallant and artistic Flanders 
should not play a great part in Central Africa ; she is already 
sufficiently illustrious in the history of Europe. 



Cotoniei, ProtectontM. Bphen 



C3'- 



CHAPTER XII. 



THE BRITISH IN AFRICA. III. 

{Egypt and Eastern Africa^ 

Ever since the beginning of this century, when England 
expelled the French from Egypt, she herself has had longings 
for the control of that country. One reason for this desire 
was vfcry clear : across Egypt lay the shortest route to India.' 
Even fvithout the Suez Canal, a day's journey on a railway or 
three days' journey by canal and carriage would transfer one 
from Alexandria on the Mediterranean to Suez on the Red Sea. 
Two hundred and twenty years ago, in the reign of Louis XIV, 
and one hundred years ago, in the dawning empire of Napoleon 
Bonaparte, when steam was unknown as a motive power, the 
idea was conceived and born that Egypt controlled the back 
door, the garden gate of India. But when steam came into 
vogue on the sea, and later on the land, and people contrasted 
the saving of time over the Egyptian route with the weary 
three months' voyage round the Cape, it became apparent, 
even to British statesmen, that British influence must have full 
play if not exclusive control in Egypt. 

Subsequent on the withdrawal of the French, a simple 
Major of artillery from European Turkey — Muhammad Ali — 
had suddenly risen to power by procedure which was faithfully 
copied 80 years afterwards by Arabi. He had attained such 
control over the military forces of Egypt that in 1806-7 ^e 



232 The Colonization of Africa, [Chap. 

defeated a British force which attempted to land and take 
possession of the country. He probably thus staved oflf for 
76 years the British occupation of Egypt, an occupation which 
in 1806 would have been far more rapidly converted into 
annexation than it could possibly be at the present day. 

England respected Muhammad Ali's sturdy resistance, and 
although she opposed his attempt to conquer the Turkish 
Empire, and — in opposition to the foolish encouragement he 
received from France — seemed, at one time his enemy, she 
nevertheless saved him from downfall, and assisted him to 
establish a dynasty in Egypt which has ruled, directly or 
indirectly for nearly a century. Still, knowing English hanker- 
ings, the Tsar Nicholas I offered Egypt and Crete to England 
a short time prior to the Crimean War in return for a free 
hand at Constantinople. Unfortunately we declined, and 
have been the poorer since by many millions of money and 
many brave men. Then came the making of the canal by 
Lesseps, the influence of which, however, was somewhat 
counteracted by the fact that all the Egyptian railways were 
British. Nevertheless, British influence never stood so low in 
Egypt as at the opening of the Suez Canal, where the Heir to 
the British Crown was lost amid a galaxy of Emperors and 
Empresses. But although French influence had grown so 
strong in Egypt, the French Government did not — overtly at 
any rate — strive for more than an equal voice with England in 
the affairs of Egypt, partly owing to a feeling of loyalty to the 
British alliance, which Napoleon III displayed whenever he 
could, and later, to the enfeeblement of France after the 
German War. But Egypt had been ruined and reduced to 
bankruptcy by a senseless squandering of money. There fol- 
lowed therefrom the Dual Control in 1876. In 1881 occurred 
the revolt of the army headed by Colonel Ahmed Arabi. 
France under the influence of Gambetta pursued the same 
policy as England, namely, the delivering of verbal assurances 
at intervals without the display of force. At last, in June 1882, 



XII.] The British in Africa, 233 

there was a riot and a massacre of Christians at Alexandria. 
When the British fleet prepared to take action the French 
withdrew, a hostile vote of the Chamber having dissolved the 
Dual Control. England then intervened in Egypt, and re- 
conquered the country for the Khedive. When this had been 
done the British Government was in a dilemma. Had it, say 
some, on the capture of Cairo declared Egypt to be a British 
protectorate outright it would have only done what all the 
powers of Europe expected. On the other hand, this bold 
step would have meant the tearing up of treaties and the 
partitioning oi the Turkish Empire. Perhaps this might have 
been got over by direct negotiation with the Sultan and 
assurances of the continuance or composition of the tribute. 
The British Government was probably sincere at the time 
in its assurances of speedy evacuation, but it seemed as 
though fate had ordained that England should remain the 
controller of Egypt. In the year following the battle of 
Tel-el- Kebir the Mahdi's revolt broke out in the Sudan*. 
Hicks Pasha's force was cut 'to pieces in the wilds of Kor- 
dofan. Gordon was sent to relieve and remove the garrisons, 
instead of doing which he remained at Khartum in the vain 
hope of restoring before he left it some kind of order to the 
country that he loved. An army was sent to rescue him. It 
arrived a few days too late, yet might even then have retaken 
Khartum and put down the revolt; but Russia was threatening 
us on the borders of India, and we could not afford to lock up-r 
so many soldiers in Central Africa. Not being able, therefore, j 
to settle the Sudan question, we were forced to remain in • 
Egypt to prevent that country from being overrun by the > 
Mahdists. An attempt was made in 1885-6 to negotiate'*^ 

^ This was a revolt against Egyptian rule and taxation and interference 
with the slave trade, started by an Arab fanatic named Muhammad Ahmad, 
who called himself the Mahdi or Messiah. He died in 1885 and was suc- 
ceeded by his Lieutenant, the Khalifah Abdallah. His fanatical followers 
are usually called the • Dervishes.* 



234 The Colonization of Africa, [Chap. 

terms of withdrawal with the Sultan, but the proposed con- 
vention was not ratified, owing to the opposition of France and 
Russia. Gradually, owing to the ability and truly British calm 
of Lord Cromer, the situation grew into a possible one. A 
moderate British garrison was retained. The Exchequer was 
placed under British control, as were public works, the ad- 
ministration of justice, the organization of the army, posts and 
telegraphs and other departments where an infusion of order, 
honesty, and economy was necessary. The Khedive of Egypt 
continued to reign with British support and under British advice. 
In 1890 the conclusion of the Anglo-Gernjan agreement for 
delimiting the British and German spheres of influence in East, 
West, and Central Africa had secured from one 'European 
power, at least, recognition of an eventual British control over 
the former Equatorial provinces of Egypt. From this event and 
from the contemplation of maps arose the idea of *the Cape to 
Cairo \' and British ministries began slowly to contemplate the 
reconquest of the Sudan. The Mahdists aided the growth of 
this resolve by their fatuous hostility and constant attacks on 
Suakin and on the Wady Haifa boundary to the south of 
Egypt proper, behind which the Egyptian forces withdrew in 
1885. In 1894-95 the vicinity of Suakin was freed from 
these marauders and the eastern Sudan reconquered, Italy 
greatly aiding by her gallant capture of Kasala*. The terrible 
disaster which befell the Italian arms in Abyssinia in 1896 
caused the British Government to press forward the conquest 
of the Sudan in order to distract the Dervishes from attacking 

^ This phrase first made its appearance in a lecture given by the author 
of this book at Liverpool. In its fullest form it ran thus: '* From the Cape 
to Cairo and Cairo to Old Calabar," i.e. a stretch of British-controlled 
territory from the Indian Ocean to the Mediterranean, and from the Gulf 
of Guinea to the Red Sea. See also the author's article in the Times 
of August 22, 1888. 

^ Taken by the Italians from the Dervishes in 1894 and restored to 
Anglo- Egyptian control in 1897. 



XII.] The British in Africa, 235 

the Italians. The Egyptian commander-in-chief — Sir Herbert 
Kitchener, now Lord Kitchener of Khartum — had thoroughly- 
reorganised the native Egyptian army under British officers, 
and with this material alone he reconquered the province of 
Dongola during the summer of 1896. In 1897 and the early 
part of 1898 the advance up the Nile valley was continued, 
and on the 2nd of September, 1898, occurred the decisive 
battle of Omdurman, in which a mixed army of British and 
Egyptian regiments, under Sir Herbert Kitchener, finally 
shattered the Khalifah's power and avenged Gordon's death. 
Anglo-Egyptian control was rapidly extended eastward to the 
Abyssinian frontier and southward to the Sobat river, but a 
half-expected obstacle came to light which imposed a tem- 
porary check to the Cape to Cairo policy: Major Marchand 
had reached Fashoda, near the confluence of the White Nile 
and the Bahr-al-Ghazal, and had hoisted the French flag over 
that abandoned Egyptian post. Before the determined attitude 
of Great Britain France, after two months' delay, withdrew 
Major Marchand, but the main question, as to the recognition 
of Great Britain's exclusive control over the Khedive's do- 
minions, still remained to be decided. 

Except for this recognition of our privileged position we 
have probably now attained all the control in Egypt which is 
strictly necessary to the interest we feel in that country as the 
halfway-house to India, provided, of course, that the titular 
ruler of Egypt sees eye to eye with us, and maintains a loyal 
understanding that he is to rule under our advice and pro- 
tection. 

Aden, at the south-west extremity of Arabia, had been 
taken by the Indian Government in 1839 in view of the opening 
up to steam ships of the Egyptian route to India. To Aden 
was added the island of Perim in 1858, and the island of 
Sokotra in 1876^ Egypt had annexed the coast of Somali- 

^ Formally placed under British protection in 1884. 



236 The Colonization of Africa, [Chap. 

land opposite Aden, with the exception of the French post of 
Obok. When the Egyptian dominion of the Sudan collapsed 
it was necessary to our interests that the Somali coast opposite 
Aden should not come under the influence of another Euro- 
pean power, so a British protectorate was established there 
(1884-89) by accord with France and Italy, France extending 
her Obok territory to meet the British Somali Protectorate, 
while the town of Harar in the interior, which was likely to 
be a bone of contention, was wisely transferred to Abyssinia 
together with a small adjoining piece of territory in 1897. 

After the Portuguese had been expelled by the Arabs from 
2^nzibar and Mombasa, all the East coast of Africa from 
Somaliland to the Ruvuma river had come under the control 
Of the Imam of Maskat, who usually deputed a brother or 
some other relation to be his viceroy at Zanzibar. Owing to 
internecine quarrels which arose in the royal family of Maskat, 
the British Government intervened in 1861, and definitely 
separated the Sultanate of Zanzibar from the Imamate of 
'Oman or Maskat. As the French were beginning to take a 
keen interest in the affairs of Zanzibar and Maskat, the British 
Government at that time concluded a treaty with the French 
Emperor by which both powers bound themselves to respect 
the independence of Zanzibar and Maskat. Many years pre- 
viously, in 1825, Captain Owen had hoisted the British flag at 
Mombasa, and had endeavoured to take that town for the 
East India Company, but his action was disallowed. Never- 
theless, British influence at Zanzibar grew very strong through 
the Political Agent whom we established at the Sultan's court, 
and a powerful squadron of cruisers which were maintained in 
Zanzibar waters to put down the slave trade. In 1866 Dr, 
afterwards Sir John, Kirk, who had been Livingstone's second 
in command on the Zambezi, was appointed Vice-Consul and 
gradually rose to be Consul and then Political Agent and 
Consul-General. He threw himself zealously into the task of 
suppressing the Zanzibar slave trade, which had become an 



XII.] The British in Africa, 237 

outrage on humanity. The British Government supported 
him, and in 1873 Sir Bartle Frere was sent to Zanzibar to 
negotiate a treaty with the Sultan. 

The Sultan was recalcitrant, and even went to the length of 
offering his territory to France. Finally, . however, before a 
threatened British bombardment could take place or the 
French squadron arrive, Sir John Kirk had persuaded the 
Sultan to sign the treaty, after which Said Barghash bin Said 
resolved to visit England, which he did in 1874. It is said 
that even at that date he had some idea of invoking German 
protection, provided he were allowed to tear up the slave-trade 
treaty. However, the wisdom and tact of Sir John Kirk did 
wonders for British influence at Zanzibar, and in 1876 the 
Sultan offered the cession of nearly all his continental terri- 
tories to Mr, afterwards Sir William, Mackinnon, the chairman 
of the British India Steam Navigation Company. But Mr 
Mackinnon was an over-cautious man. Instead of accepting, 
and then forcing the hand of the British Government, he 
refused to take the Sultan's concession unless he could first ob- 
tain a British guarantee, an action to which the Government 
was naturally unwilling to commit itself. In 1881 Sir John Kirk 
thought of another plan, that of inducing the Sultan to employ 
capable Britons, who would develop his territories as governors 
or commissioners. He secured the services of Mr Joseph 
Thomson to develop the resources of the Ruvuma Province, 
an appointment which might have effectually prevented any 
future German intervention ; but Mr Joseph Thomson was too 
literal and shortsighted — perhaps too tiresomely hon^t. The 
country seemed to him poor in resources (though it is now 
shown to be more productive than he thought) and he told the 
Sultan so bluntly, and therefore was relieved of his appointment. 
In 1883 Sir John Kirk returned from England, having induced 
the Government to appoint a number of salaried vice-consuls 
at various points in the Sultan's territories. (It must be re- 
membered that at this period a very large proportion of the 



./ 



238 The Colonization of Africa. [Chap. 

Zanzibar trade was in the hands of British subjects, who were 
principally natives of India.) Sir John Kirk had also about 
the same time entered into friendly relations with the principal 
chief on Mt Kilima-njaro, and had urged the sending out of a 
scientific expedition, to the leadership of which the present 
writer was appointed in 1884, in order to explore that moun- 
tain. After some months' stay on Kilima-njaro I reported to 
the Foreign Office the great advantages this country possessed 
as a sanatorium, and whilst waiting for instructions from Sir 
John Kirk, concluded treaties with several chiefs. The Foreign 
Office reply (as may be seen from the information given in the 
Blue Books of that period) was speedy and favourable. But 
various obstacles arose which required consideration, amongst 
others the remembrance of our agreement with France. 
Another European power, however, was bound by no such 
agreement, and had no such scruples, as will be related in 
Chapter XIV. Although my treaties proved the basis on which 
the British East Africa Company was eventually founded, the 
actual Mountain of Kilima-njaro finally fell to Germany. 
By 1885, however, the British Government had more or less 
indicated to Germany that portion of the Zanzibar dominions 
which must come under British influence if there was to be a 
division of those territories ; and after several years of diplo- 
matic conffict, the whole question was settled with rare ability 
by the 1890 Convention between England and Germany, and 
by a secondary agreement with France, which definitely allotted 
to Great Britain the northern half of the Sultan of Zanzibar's 
dominions, and the islands of Zanzibar and Pemba. 

The British East Africa Company, which had been organ- 
ized in 1886, was chartered in 1888, and undertook the govern- 
ment of the vast territories lying between the Mombasa coast 
and the Victoria Nyanza. The country of Uganda, on the 
north-west of this greatest of African lakes, had been allotted 
to the British sphere by the German Convention ; but unfortu- 
nately the country had been invaded by French Roman 



XII.] The British in Africa, 239 

Catholic missionaries of Cardinal Lavigerie's mission (cf. p. 151), 
who were such ardent Frenchmen that they rather forgot 
the religious purpose for which they were there, and fomented 
serious quarrels between the king and the Protestant mission- 
aries who had preceded them. The great King Mtesa died in 
1884, peevish and disgusted with the missionary squabbles 
and religious recriminations that buzzed in his ears, longing for 
the dear old easy pagan life he had led before he had pressed 
Stanley (p. 217) to send him Christian teachers. After his 
death, the Arab party prejudiced his son Mwanga against the 
foreigners. Bishop Hannington, of the Church Missionary 
Society, newly appointed to East Equatorial Africa, persisted 
in entering Uganda along Mr Thomson's route by what the 
king called the **back way." Frightened lest the bishop might 
be coming to take the country by the methods which the 
Germans had employed further south, the king ordered him to 
be murdered. Soon after this, the missionaries, Protestants 
and Catholics, were expelled from Uganda. Then later on 
there was a Muhammadan revolt, which drove Mwanga flying. 
He took refuge with the Catholic missionaries at the south 
end of the lake, and became a Christian. He was restored 
to his throne by the aid of Mr Stokes, who was afterwards 
hanged by Major Lothaire (p. 229). Then the French 
missionaries got control over the king, and attempted to 
prevent the country from becoming a British protectorate — 
if it could not be French, at any rate let it be German ; 
and Dr Peters arriving on the scene strove to make it Ger- 
man; but his efforts were annulled by the 1890 Convention. 
After this, to prevent the country from falling under the 
sway of the Muhammadans, who might have joined the 
Mahdists or become French, the East Africa Company was 
obliged by public opinion to intervene, although it did not 
possess sufficient funds to administer such an expensive 
empire. Captain, now Colonel, Lugard was sent there as 
their agent, and in an exceedingly able and courageous 



240 The Colonizatian of Africa. [Chap. 

manner restored order, obtaining from the king a treaty with 
the Company, and putting down revolts of the Roman Catholic 
Christians and of the Muhammadans. But the East Africa 
Company was obliged to appeal to the British Government to 
come to its assistance lest Uganda should swallow up all its 
resources. The late Sir Gerald Portal, Agent and Consul- 
General at Zanzibar, was sent to Uganda to report on the 
advisabihty and the means of retaining this country under 
British influence. Unhappily, he died soon after his return to 
England, but his report led to the establishment of a British 
protectorate. Through the intervention of the Pope, the 
French missionaries were replaced by Irish priests, who have 
since carried on the conversion and teaching of the natives in 
an admirable manner, without interfering with the government 
of the country. On the other hand, the French missionaries 
were compensated for their retirement by a payment of 

;;^I 0,000. 

After the withdrawal of Emin Pasha from his Equatorial 
province a number of his former Sudanese soldiers volunteered 
for employment in Uganda, and were eagerly recruited as a 
capable fighting force. But they were Muhammadans, and ' 
always inclined to intrigue against a Christian power. Added 
to this, Mwanga was the most unstable of men, and an 
exceedingly bad character to boot. Vices, hateful even to 
negro minds, made him so unpopular, that without British 
support he would probably have been deposed or killed. As 
it was, the presence of the British prevented this, but did not 
prevent his intriguing with that section of the populace which 
disliked European intervention. After an undecided behaviour 
which lasted several years he finally attempted to massacre 
the British, but was defeated, and fled across the German 
border. Then the Sudanese troops revolted, seized a fortress 
and some guns, and for nearly a year set the British and the 
loyal Baganda at defiance. Finally, a detachment of 450 Sikhs 
reached the country (a handful of these splendid soldiers had 



I# 



V 



i 



XII.] TAe British in Africa, 241 

already enabled the European officers to face the Muham- 
roadan mutineers), and from latest advices order has been 
restored. 

Prior to these troubles, continual warfare was carried on 
for some years with the Bunyoro kingdom to the north, which 
was finally conquered and annexed to the Protectorate. Major 
'Roddy' Owen had even hoisted the British flag at Wadelai, 
on the White Nile, but this action was not confirmed by the 
British Government Nevertheless, with the conquest of 
Khartum, effected and the Fashoda question settled, it may 
not be long before the British Protectorate extends north 
from Uganda until it merges with the Egyptian Viceroyalty of 
the Sudan. To the southward, Uganda is separated from the 
north end of Lake Tanganyika by a small strip of German 
territory, across which a right of way is sanctioned by treaty. 
Before long, then, by , telegraph, by railway, and by steamer 
British influence may stretch from Cape Town to Cairo. 

After the Zanzibar Sultanate had been placed under British 
protection it was necessary to reorganize its administration. 
The islands of Zanzibar and Pemba remained under the more 
or less direct rule of the Sultan, who, however, appointed 
English ministers to control the various departments of state, 
and was at the same time subject to the advice and financial 
control of the British Agent and Consul-General. Several 
sultans succeeded one another and died in a few years, and on 
the occasion of the last death (1897) a palace revolt occurred, 
occasioned by a disappointed claimant to the throne. This 
revolt, however, was really a premature outbreak on the part of 
the Arab party, who frankly disliked British interference which 
entailed tiie abolition of the slave trade and even the dis- 
appearance of slavery, and were sufficiently foolish to imagine 
that they were strong enough to resist us. A few hours' 
bombardment of the Sultan's head-quarters quelled this re- 
bellion. Since that time, by degrees, and with a wise system 

J. A. 16 



If 



242 The Colonization of Africa. [Chap. xii. 

of gradation, slavery is being abolished, and will soon cease to 
mst as a recognized status. 

On the mainland the East African Company continued to 
rule till 1894, when it was bought out by the Sultan of Zan- 
zibar, whose direct rule over British East Africa, as far as the 
borders of the Uganda Protectorate, was restored under British 
officials. The organization of something like a civilized ad- 
liiinistratfon naturally caused revolts among the Arab party; 
for on the Mombasa coast were chieftains who came of an old 
Arab stock, settled in East Africa for many centuries. These 
people, under the leadership of * Sultan' Mbaruk, were con- 
stantly at war with the Sultan of Zanzibar before the establish- 
ment of the British protectorate. They now rose against 
British administration, but were thoroughly subdued by the 
introduction of Indian troops, who have proved as satisfactory 
and as useful in British East Africa and in Uganda as in 
British Central Africa. 



\ 

I* 



CHAPTER XIII. 



THE ITALIANS IN AFRICA. 



The part played by Italy in the opening up of Africa after 
the wiping out of Roman civilization in that continent by the 
Arab invasion was remarkable; it was not, however, a part 
attributable to Italy as a whole, but to some of her component 
states. The little principality of Amalfi had early dealings 
with the Saracens, and imported from them some knowledge of 
the new navigation, and of that new group of fruit trees — the 
orange family — which was to find a second home in Italy. 
Pisa, Genoa, and Venice alternately warred and traded with 
the north of Africa. Pisa introduced camels into Italy in 1622, 
and Naples obtained from Egypt the domestic Indian buffalo 
earlier still, perhaps in the 13th century. Sicily was finally 
conquered by the Saracens in 832 a.d. ; and Sardinia from 712 
became intermittently a Saracen possession for five centuries 
until it was definitely rescued by the Aragonese. Conse- 
quently Sicilian and Sardinian renegades figure largely in the 
history of Tunis, .Tripoli, and Algeria. But the two states 
which before the Portuguese era shared most prominently in 
the commerce of North Africa were Genoa and Venice. Genoa 
had most to do with the Tunis littoral : she had intermittent 
establishments at Tabarka and Bone, besides occasionally 
holding Mehdia on the coast of Tunis. Venice cultivated a 
friendship with Egypt during and after the Crusades, and in 
this way obtained control over the Indian trade, until the 

16 — 2 



244 ^^ Colonisation of Africa. [Chap. 

Portuguese discovered and utilized the Cape route. Then the 
interest of Italy in Africa waned and vanished. For several 
centuries Naples and Sardinia submitted to be harried by 
Moorish pirates without making any but the most feeble 
reprisals. 

Unified Italy, however, began to assert herself, at first in 
Tunis. During the '6o's of this century the affairs of Tunis, 
instead of being debated between France and England, were 
submitted to the consideration of a third power, the King- 
dom of Italy; and at the close of the '6o's a triple control 
of these three powers had been established over its finances. 
Then England ceased to claim a decisive voice in the control 
of. this tottering Turkish regency, and France and Italy w^re 
left face to face. Italy had to give way. She had, however, 
for some time been cultivating an interest in Tripoli, where 
she had established, as in Tunis and Egypt, " Royal schook " 
for the gratuitous teaching of Italian ; but a too vivid display 
of her interest in the affairs of Tripoli after the French occu- 
pation of Tunis caused the Sultan of Turkey to reinforce his 
garrison there by 10,000 soldiers, and Italy decided that the 
time was not now. Italian influence of a more or less Levan- 
tine, denationalized stamp became well established in Egypt 
before tlie English occupation, and had to a great extent re- 
placed that of France, the Italian language being employed 
as a kind of Lingua Franca. The present writer can remember 
when first visiting Egypt in 1S84 that most of the letter-boxes 
at the post-offices had on them "Buca per le lettre," while 
Italian was much better understood in the towns than French^ 
English of course not being understood at all at that time, 
So that if it be true that Mr Gladstone in 1882 invited Italy 
to take the place of France in a dual control with England 
over Egypt, the proposal at the time it was made was not 
such a preposterous one as it might now appear. 
..„.-— >So far back as 1870 Italy had cast an eye over Abyssinia, 
and had purchased a small site on Assab Bay as a coaling 



XIII.] . The Italians in Africa, 245 

statioa Assab Bay, in the Red Sea, was on the inhospitable, 
, 6wnerless Danakil coast, not far from the Straits of Bab-el- 
Mandeb. In 1875 the suspicious movements of Italian ships 
about Sokotra obliged England to take that island under her ^ 
protection. From 1870 onwards Italian missionaries and^ 
Italian travellers had begun to move about this coast, and to 
explore the south of Abyssinia. In 1880 the Italian Govern- 
ment revived its claim to Assab Bay, but did not take actual 
possession of it until July 1882, when the bombardment of 
Alexandria had awakened Europe to the apprehension of a 
great change in Egyptian affairs. An acrimonious corre- 
spondence took place between Italy, Egypt, and Turkey 
regarding this claim to Assab Bay; but Italy received the 
tacit support of England, and when the Egyptian hold over 
the Sudan crumbled, the Italians rapidly extended their occu- 
pation north and south, until Italian influence was conter- 
minous on the south with the French territory of Obok (and 
consequently opposite the Straits of Bab-el-Mandeb), and on 

.2 the north reached to Ras Kasar, some 100 miles south-east of 

Suakim. In this manner Italy acquired about 650 miles of. 

^ Red Sea coast, including the ancient and important port of 

Masawa. This coast in its present condition of sterility would 
be of little value did it not command the easiest and nearest 
approaches to Abyssinia. In one part of the coast the natives 
are practically of Abyssinian stock, and Abyssinia has con- 
stantly striven through centuries to maintain her hold on the 
seaboard, but has always been driven back to her mountains 
by maritime races, such as the Greeks, Romans, Arabs, and 
Turks. Seeing Italy step in after the downfall of Egypt to 
replace that power in Masawa and elsewhere. King John of 
Abyssinia soon fell out with the Italians. The Italians had 
occupied an inland town called Sahati, formerly an Egyptian 
stronghold. Ras Alula, an Abyssinian general, with 10,000 
men attacked 450 Italian troops on their way to Sahati, and, 
as may be imagined, massacred nearly all of them. Italy felt 




246 The Colonization of Africa, [Chap. 

her honour at stake, and in spite of the expense, would have 
been obliged to commence an Abyssinian war but for the good 
offices of the British Government. Lord Salisbury sent Mr, 
afterwards Sir Gerald, Portal on a mission to Abyssinia, which 
had the effect of arranging a temporary peace between the 
Italians and King John. Shortly afterwards King John of 
Abyssinia advanced against the Mahdists, and was killed in 
battle. Italy then occupied the posts of Keren and Asmara, 
which gave her control over the mountain roads of Abyssinia. 
She had previously maintained a great friendliness with 
Menelik, the vassal king of Shoa. Abyssinia proper may be 
said to be divided into three principal districts, which some- 
times become semi-independent satrapies or kingdoms — Tigre, 
on the north, Amhara, in the centre, and Shoa to the south. 
When King John of Abyssinia died, Menelik, as the strongest 
of his vassals, seized somewhat illegally the Abyssinian Empire. 
Although now viewing the Italians in a more suspicious 
manner, he nevertheless concluded a treaty with them, which 
enabled him to negotiate a loan and to obtain a large quantity 
hi war material, but contained a clause of " mutual protection." 
/The Italian protectorate over Abyssinia was recognized by 
/ England and by Germany, but not by France or Russia. In 
order to annoy Italy as a member of the Triple Alliance, 
France and Russia commenced encouraging Menelik to a 
repudiation of the Italian protectorate, and suppHed him with 
quantities of arms and ammunition. Russia, indeed, for years 
past had shown a disposition to concern herself about Abyssinia 
on the pretext that the Greek Christianity of that country 
linked it specially to Russia. She sent numerous " scientific " 
expeditions thither, and also a party of Cossack-monks to 
stimulate Abyssinian Christianity. On one occasion these 
Cossack-monks even went to the length of seizing a port on 
the French coast, near Obok. This was too much, even for 
the French, and force was used to expel these truculent 
missionaries. 






XIII.] The Italians in Africa, 247 

In March 1891, with a view to regulating future action on 
the part of Italy, England had entered into an agreement 
delimiting the respective spheres of British and Italian interests 
in East Africa, and by this agreement Italy was permitted, if 
she found it necessary for military purposes, to occupy the 
abandoned post of Kasala (then in the hands of the Dervishes), 
on the frontiers of the Egyptian Sudan. Accordingly, this post 
was occupied by Italy in 1894. In the beginning of 1895, the 
Italian forces being again attacked by the Abyssinians, the 
war was carried into the enemy's country, and after several 
sanguinary defeats had been inflicted on the Abyssinians, the 
greater part of the Tigre Province was occupied. Menelik, 
whose administrative capital still remained at Adis Abeba in 
Shoa, organized a vast army, and prepared to defend his 
kingdom. In the early spring of 1896 General Baratieri (in 
fear lest he might be superseded, and without waiting for 
sufficient reinforcements) assumed the offensive against the 
Abyssinians in the vicinity of Adua, with the result that he 
sustained a terrible reverse. Nearly half the Italian army was 
killed, and of the remainder many prisoners were taken. This 
was a terrible blow to Italy, and its effects on European politics 
were far-reaching. All thought of an Italian protectorate over 
Abyssinia was at an end, a position frankly recognized by Italy 
in her subsequent treaty of peace with Menelik. She had lost 
but little of her original colony of " Eritrea," but Eritrea is of 
small value except as the stepping-stone to Abyssinia. The 
French and Russians were triumphant, and French adulation 
of the Emperor Menelik was scarcely worthy of a nation in the 
high position of France. A British mission was sent in 1897 
to open up friendly relations with Abyssinia, and to establish 
a political agency at the king's court. The treaty concluded 
seemed at first sight not wholly satisfactory to British interests, 
as it yielded a small portion of Somaliland to Abyssinia, and 
did not provide for any delimitation of Abyssinian boundaries 
on the west; but apparently there were other clauses not made 



248 Tfie^ Colonization of Africa, [Chap. xiii. 

public which subsequently ensured the friendly neutrality of 
Menelik during the Khartum campaign. It is possible, of 
course, that urged on by European powers hostile to England, 
Menelik may make a bid for dominion in the Nile valley; but 
if he measures his forces against those of England he may 
receive a rude awakening : his advisers should remember 
Magdala. 

Finding that Germany did not intend to push claims, half- 
developed, to the Somali coast, Italy in 1889 began to make 
treaties in that direction, and by the end of that year had 
advanced a claim over the whole Somali coast from the west 
side of Cape Guardafui to the mouth of the river Jub, a claim 
subsequently confirmed by agreements with England and with 
the Sultan of Zanzibar. Italian enterprize has led to a great 
deal of geographical discovery near the Jub River and the 
Webbe Shebeili, an eccentric stream, which after arriving with- 
in a few miles of the sea and meandering along parallel with 
the coast, loses itself in a sandy desert near the mouth of the 
Jub River. Several Italian expeditions have come to grief in 
these Somali and Galla countries, but Italy still holds on, and-^ — 
deserves to succeed in the long run. An Italian commercial 
company has been founded to deal with the exploitation of 
the Benadir coast — once in the hands of the Sultan of Zanzi- 
bar — where there is still some lucrative trade to be done in 
products of the interior. But Italy will never prosper in this 
East African possession until she comes to an agreement 
with France as to the inland boundary of Obok. If this 
were settled with a fair regard to Italian interests, Abyssinia 
might be left to its own devices, and in the rich Galla countries 
at the head waters of the Webbe Shebeili and the Jub Italy 
would find a country well worth developing, and fairly healthy 
for settlement. 



. J 



v^ 



CHAPTER XIV. 



GERMAN AFRICA. 



German settlement in Africa is not altogether the outcome 
of the scramble for Africa in 1884 ; German settlements on 
the coast of Africa existed 200 years ago,. and Prussian or 
German protectorates in Africa were discussed during the 
'6o's of this century. Ships from the Mark of Brandenburg 
(the mother of the Prussian monarchy) or^ at any rate, be- 
longing io Brandenburg owners, stole out of the Baltic and 
took a part in the West African trade in slaves and gold 
when Charles II was king of England. These ships were 
much harassed by the French, Portuguese, and Dutch, but 
the Brandenburgers, together with the Prussian Company of 
Emden^ managed to establish a foothold at the close of the 
17 th century on the Gold Coast, where they held for a 
time Grossfriedricksburg and Takrana. The little island of 
Arguin near Cape Blanco, off the Senegal coast, was bought 
by Frederic William (t*he Great Elector of Brandenburg) from 
the Dutch, and was held for some years. The Brandenburg 
African Company was definitely founded in 1681, but by 1720 
these North Germans, distracted by quarrels at home, had 
abandoned their West African enterprise. 

During the '40's of the present century some consideration 

^ East Friesland. 



250 The Colonization of Africa, [Chap. 

wras given in Germany to the question of colonization, but 
attention was directed to unoccupied territories in America, 
and nothing was said about Africa. Between i860 and 1865, 
a Hanoverian Baron, Von der Decken, was exploring Kilima- 
njaro and the East coast of Africa. It began to dawn on him 
that Zanzibar and the Zanzibar coast would form a legitimate 
field for German enterprise, settlement, and colonization, 
"especially after the opening of the Suez Canal." But although 
Von der Decken was killed on the Jub River in 1865, he 
transmitted his opinions to Otto Kersten, who wrote an article 
in 1867, stating that Von der Decken had had ideas of buying 
Mombasa from the Sultan of 2^nzibar in order to found a 
German settlement. By this time Hamburg merchants had 
established a flourishing trade at Zanzibar, and until 1885 the 
German representative at that place was almost invariably a 
Hamburg man ; indeed before the unification of the German 
Empire there was a Hamburg (Hanseatic) consul at Zanzibar 
rather than a German representative. Until the deliberate 
intervention of Germany on the East coast of Africa, these 
Hanseatic merchants practically placed themselves under 
British protection. 

In 1878 the German African Society of Berlin was founded 
as a branch of the International African Association. It ab- 
sorbed two similar societies dealing with Africa more from a 
geographical point of view. German 'international' stations 
were founded between Zanzibar and Tanganyika, and German 
explorers made a careful examination of the country round 
Lake Mweru, and the river Lualaba. Other German ex- 
plorers (Wissmann amongst their number) examined the 
southern half of the Congo Free State, and when the present 
writer visited the Congo in 1882-3 the German explorers, 
nominally in the service of the King of the Belgians, made no 
secret of the desire of Germany to acquire control over the 
Upper Congo. This, no doubt, was one reason why Bismarck 
opposed the Anglo-Portuguese treaty of 1883-4. But when 



XIV.] German Africa. 251 

the conference he had negotiated was brought about he felt 
that French and Belgian opposition united and the utter 
absence of German claims made a German Congo State im- 
possible. The energies of Germany were then directed towards 
the Niger, but here they were thwarted by the National African, 
afterwards the Royal Niger Company. 

In 1882 the German Colonial Society was founded at 
Frankfort and met with enthusiastic support. 

In the '50's, '6o's, and '70's, German Protestant mis- 
sionaries had established themselves in Damaraland and 
Namakwaland, in South-West Africa. In 1864 some of these 
missionaries bought the estates of the Walfish Bay Copper 
Company, to the north-east of Walfish Bay, and here they 
hoisted the German flag. As early as 1877 Sir Bartle Frere 
began to regard the proceedings of the German mission- 
aries with suspicion, and to combat their action proposed 
adding Damaraland to the South African Empire. But the 
British Government would only permit the annexation of 
Walfish Bay. About 1880 the German missionaries renewed 
their complaints as to the treatment they suffered at the hands 
of the natives and the lack of protection they received from 
the British authorities. Prince Bismarck took up these claims, 
and asked the British Government whether it was prepared to 
protect Europeans in Damaraland and the Namakwa country. 
Lord Granville repudiated any responsibility outside Walfish 
Bay, and informed the Governor of the Cape that the Orange 
River was the north-western boundary of Cape Colony. In 
1 88 1 the German missionaries asked for a gunboat to protect 
their interests on the Namakwa coast. The Foreign Ofllice 
was consulted, and again repudiated any British claims to this 
territory outside Walfish Bay. At the beginning of 1883 Herr 
Liideritz of Bremen, acting possibly under the inspiration of 
the German Colonial Society, asked the German Government 
whether he would receive German protection if he acquired 
territories in South-West Africa. He received a guarded 



25^ The Colonisiatioft of Africa, [Chap. 

consent (after the Grerman Foreign Office had again consulted 
the British Government and received a vague reply). In April 
1883 the agents of Herr Liideritz went with a German ship to 
the Bay of Angra Pequena, 150 miles north of the Orange 
River. The Germans landed there, and marched inland 
100 miles to the German mission station of Bethany. The 
Hottentot chief of that district sold to these agents of Herr 
Liideritz a piece of land 24 miles long and 10 miles broad> 
with that breadth of frontage on the Bay of Angra Pequena^ 
including all sovereign rights. On the 2nd of May, 1883, 
the German flag was hoisted on the shore of Angra Pequena 
Bay over the first German colony. When the news reached 
the Cape, an English gunboat, the Boadicea, went to Angra 
Pequena, and was met at that place by a German gunboat, 
whose commander informed the captain of the Boadicea that 
he was in German waters, and could exercise no authority 
there. But nearly five months had apparently elapsed be- 
tween the hoisting of the German flag at Angra Pequena and 
this visit of the British Warship, and during that period no 
action had been taken in England. Nor, indeed, could any 
action have been taken after the explicit manner in which 
both Lord Beaconsfield's and Mr Gladstone's Governments 
had disavowed any British claims to the coast of South- West 
Africa. Too late, Lord Granville informed Prince Bismarck 
that **any claim of sovereignty or jurisdiction on the part of a 
foreign power over any part of the coast between the Portu- 
guese boundary and the Orange River would be regarded as 
an encroachment on the legitimate rights of Cape Colony." 
Even then Germany did not proceed to immediate action, but 
repeatedly pressed the question whether England did or did 
not intend to take upon herself the administration of this 
Damara coast The British Government sought to evade a 
direct reply by consulting the Cape Government. No answer 
was returned by the latter till May 1884, when the Cape 
offered to take over the control of the whole coast up to 



'.? 



xiy.J Gerptan Africa, 253 

Walfish Bay. But in April Germany had made a statement 
that she would not recognize British protection over this coast, 
and on the 21st of June she secured from England a recog- 
nition of a German protectorate. If the action of the British 
authorities was blameworthy in refusing to take Germany 
seriously, and in puzzling her by declining to proclaim a British 
protectorate between the Orange River and the Portuguese 
possessions, the blame falls equally upon the Cape Parliament. 
It was the parsimony of Cape Colony which feared to be led 
into expense, coupled with the shortsightedness of the English 
ministry of the day which refused to believe in the possibility 
of Germany desiring colonies, that permitted Germany to estab: 
lish herself as a South African power. As to the German 
Government, it behaved throughout with perfect 'correctness.' 
It gave the British Government ample time and opportunity to 
make gpod any preceding rights. 

Germany did not act here as she did in the Qameroons, 
where she merely informed the British Government that Dr 
Nachtigal had been commissioned by the German Government 
to visit the West coast of Africa in order to report on the state 
of German commerce, and asked that he might be furnished 
with recommendations to the British authorities in West Africa. 
It did, it y^ true, mention that Dr Nachtigal would conduct 
negotiations connected with certain questions, but the context 
implied that these questions were commercial matters. There- 
fore the British Government, which had already made arrange- 
ments for establishing a protectorate over the whole coast 
between Lagos and the Cameroons, did not cause Consul 
Hewett to rfetum to his post with any undue hurry. Dr 
Nachtigal arrived at the lies de Los, on the North- West coast 
of Africa, on the ist of June, 1884, with the intention of taking 
under German protection the River Dubreka, situated in the 
district which the French call Rivibres du Sud, but as there 
was some doubt as to French claims nothing further was done 
at the time, and when afterwards the German flag was hoisted 



254 '^f^ Colonization of Africa. [Chap. 

it was at once removed on the receipt of a French protest. 
On the 5th of July Nachtigal reached a district on the east 
of the English Gold Coast colony, now known as Togoland. 
Here arrangements were made with the native chiefs and the 
country declared a German protectorate. Then Dr Nachtigal 
steamed right across to the Cameroons. Here he was just in 
time. The principal chief, King Bell, had been won over by 
the gift of ;£ 1000 to sign a treaty with Germany. The other 
chiefs refused to do so, and Bell himself waited for a week to 
see if Consul Hewett would arrive. However, when the Consul 
did come on the 1 9th of July King Bell had signed the treaty, 
and the German flag had been hoisted over the Cameroons 
River. Consul Hewett was in time to carry out the rest of his 
programme, and as far as actual treaty- signing went we had 
only lost a tiny piece of the coast line we had determined to 
secure; but in order that a grudging spirit might not be shown 
to Germany she was finally allowed to take over all the Came- 
roons district^ 

In East Africa Germany's procedure may be summarized 
thus. Count Pfeil, Dr Peters, and Dr Jiihlke arrived at 
Zanzibar on the 4th of November, 1884, as deck passengers, 
dressed like mechanics. Officially discountenanced by the 
German Consul, they nevertheless left at once for the interior, 
and on the 19th of November the first treaty was signed with 
a native chief, and the German flag was hoisted in Uzeguha. 
Eventually other treaties were concluded in Nguru, Usagara, 
Ukami, and other adjoining countries, which resulted in a 
solid block of 60,000 square miles being ostensibly secured on 
paper. Dr Peters hastened back to Berlin, and on the 12th 
of February, 1885, he had already founded a German East 



^ Intense regret for such concessions may be spared when it is borne in 
mind that the United States of Europe (as they would have become in an 
Anti-British League) would hardly have allowed even Free-trade England 
to acquire all the coastline of the Dark Continent. 



XIV.] German Africa, 255 

African Company, to whom he transferred his treaty rights. 
On the 27 th of February following the German Emperor 
issued an official notice of the extension of his protection to 
the territories acquired, or which might be further acquired. 
In vain the Sultan of Zanzibar protested. The British repre- 
sentative was instructed to support German claims, and event- 
ually it was decided that the Sultan of Zanzibar's authority 
was to be limited to a territory ten miles broad along the 
coast between Cape Delgado and Somaliland. 

In May 1885 the Foreign Office informed Germany that 
a British company desired to develop the country between 
the Mombasa coast and the Victoria Nyanza. The foun- 
dation for this scheme was the treaties which the present 
writer had concluded on or near Kilima-njaro in the pre- 
ceding year, and which at the desire of the Foreign Office had 
been transferred to the late Mr James Hutton of Manchester. 
The Sultan of Zanzibar, however, refused to give in, even to 
British representations, and made strenuous efforts to support 
his claims to the hinterland of the East African coast. On the 
7th of August, 1885, a German squadron anchored in front of 
Zanzibar and delivered an ultimatum. The Sultan bowed to 
the inevitable, and recognized the German territorial claims, 
including a protectorate over Witu*, a little patch of territory 
near the Tana River. Gradually, however, matters settled 
down. An agreement was come to in 1885 between the 
British and German Governments to recognize with France the 
independence of the Sultan of Zanzibar, and the definition of 
his exact dominions by a joint commission. Eventually in 
1886 the respective British and German spheres in East Africa 
were defined In the same forceful manner the Germans had 
taken Kilima-njaro. With this exception, a line was drawn 
from Wanga on the coast straight to the north-east shore of 

^ The concession of Witu had been obtained by the Denhardt brothers 
on the 8th of April, 1885, and a German protectorate was declared on the 
a 7th of May. 



4 



256 The Colonization of Africa, [Chap. 

L&ke Victoria Nyanza. The limit of the British sphere on the 
north was the Tana River, Germany maintaining her hold on 
Witu. The German Government then came to terms with 
Portugal, and agreed that the territories of the two powers 
in East Africa should march together as far as the east coast 
of Lake Nyasa. Germany also concluded treaties along the 
Somali, coast 

The German Colonization Society and the German Colonial 
Society subsequently united under the latter title, while the 
German East African Association had been incorporated by 
Imperial charter. Further subsidiary companies were organized, 
and by 1888 numerous plantations had been established in the 
north of German East Africa, near the coast In 1888 the 
German East Africa Company obtained from the Sultan of 
Zanzibar the lease for 50 years of the whole of the Sultan's 
coast territory from the Ruvuma River to the Umba. A great 
development then took place in the Company's operations, which 
were more and more identified with the German Government. A 
staff of oyer 60 officials was sent out to carry on the new admini- 
stration. Sir Charles Euan Smith, who had succeeded Sir John 
Kirk, warned the German administration in a friendly manner 
that unless greater care for Arab susceptibilities was shown in 
replacing the Sultan of Zanzibar's government on the coast 
troubles with the Arabs might ensue. His warning was only 
too well founded. Five days after taking over the administra- 
tion of the country — on the 21st of August, 1 88^^^— disturbances 
fomented by the Arab and Swahili popuknon broke out, 
and in another month the Germans held very few posts on 
the coast or in the interior. An animosity also began to 
be directed not only against the Germans, but against all 
Europeans, and the situation became very serious. In 1889, 
the resources of the Company having broken down. Captain 
Hermann Wissmann (now Major von Wissmann) was ap- 
pointed Imperial Commissioner for East Africa. With 1000 
native troops, mainly Sudanese recruited with the help of 



XIV.] German Africa. 257 

the British Government, 200 German sailors, and 60 German 
officers and non-commissioned officers, von Wissman carried on 
a vigorous campaign against the Arabs and Swahiii, and by 
the end of 1889 he had put down the revolt and captured 
and executed the leader of it, Bushiri. It took six months 
longer, however, to quiet some of the interior districts and 
those near the River Ruvuma. 

In the middle of 1890 Germany concluded a very wise 
arrangement with England, by which, as has already been 
described in another chapter, all German possessions to the 
north of the British boundary at the Umba River were given 
up, and a British protectorate over Zanzibar was recognized, 
while the German boundaries were carried inland to the 
frontier of the Congo Free State. On the south, Great 
Britain was admitted to the south end of Tanganyika, and 
secured all the west coast of Lake Nyasa. From 1890 to 
the present time German settlement and the development of 
German East Africa have gone on without any disagreeable 
check. In 1893 a large and well-appointed steamer, the Her- 
mann Von Wissmann, was placed on Lake Nyasa, and the 
British authorities round that lake were amply rewarded for 
any help they might have contributed towards its conveyance 
thither by the services which the German steamer afterwards 
rendered in acting as a transport for a portion of the British 
forces in the last war against the Lake Nyasa Arabs. 

On the Zanzibar coast new quarters in the old Arab 
towns are springing up like magic, the streets are being 
widened, are kept clean, and are well lit Flourishing plan- 
tations cover many acres of what was formerly waste land. 
There is fair security for life and property, even in the 
distant interior. The Arabs are becoming reconciled to 
German rule, while on the other hand the German officials 
are learning the art of dealing tactfully with subject races. 
Since 1890, when the coast strip leased from the Sultan of 
Zanzibar was finally purchased from him, the whole of 

J. A. 17 



258 The Colonization of Africa, [Chap. 

German East Africa has been under direct Imperial admini- 
stration. It is likely to turn out in course of time a flourishing 
tropical settlement; not a country which Germans could 
colonize in the sense that Australia or Canada are coloniz- 
able, but a Ceylon, a Java, a Southern India, where the 
German planter may make a competence, where the goods 
of Germany may find unrestricted markets, and where the 
Teuton may educate and raise a degraded race into a higher 
state of civilization. 

The subsequent history of the Cameroons has been much 
like that of German East Africa. Revolts, 'sharp lessons,' then 
attacks by hostile tribes inland, which are quelled by expe- 
ditions and the building of forts, followed by other revolts 
still further in the interior, to be succeeded by still further 
victories and advances; but on the whole increasing peace 
and order throughout the country, and a great development 
of trade. Unfortunately, as amongst some officials of the 
East Africa Company, so among a few of the Government 
servants in the Cameroons, there were instances of great 
cruelties committed about three years ago, cruelties which 
led to a serious revolt among the negro soldiery. Germany 
wisely did not hush up these affairs, but investigated them 
in an open court and punished the guilty. It will be seefi, 
I fancy, when history takes a review of the foundation of 
these African states that the unmixed Teuton — Dutchman pr 
German — is on first contact with subject races apt to be harsh 
and even brutal, but that he is Ao fool and wins the respect of 
the negro or the Asiatic, who admire brute force ; while his 
own good nature in time induces a softening of manners when 
the native has ceased to rebel and begun to cringe. There is 
this that is hopeful and wholesome about the Germans. They 
are quick to realise their own defects, and equally quick to 
amend them. As in commerce so in government, they observe, 
learn and master the best principles. The politician would be 
very shortsighted who underrated the greatness of the German 



XIV.] German Africa, 259 

character, or reckoned on the evanescence of German dominion 
in strange lands. 

In South-West Africa Germany had, by arrangement with 
Portugal, and eventually with England, secured a protectorate 
or sphere of influence over a very large stretch of country, 
bounded on the north by Portuguese West Africa, on the south 
by the Orange River, and on the east by British Bechuanaland, 
with, in- addition, a long, narrow strip, which reached the 
Zambezi at its confluence with the Chobe. This country 
along the coast line is very barren ; it is, in fact, a hopeless 
desert, most hopeless of all between the Orange River and 
Walfish Bay. But the interior is mountainous, and in these 
mountains there are stretches of well-watered country where 
cattle are kept in enormous herds. Moreover, this mountain- 
ous country is very healthy. With the Bantu Herero, who 
inhabit the northern part of German South-West Africa, the 
Germans have got on very well, thanks to the influence exerted 
by the German missionaries ; but with the mingled Hottentots 
who inhabit the southern section of the colony and almost all 
the coast-belt the Germans have been constantly at war. These 
Hottentots, who seem to have some slight infusion of Dutch 
blood which renders them more warlike than their relations 
in Cape Colony, are Christians of a kind, wear clothes, 
bear Dutch names, and have found a leader in a certain 
Witbooi, who has again and again inflicted defeats on small 
parties of German soldiers, has made treaties and broken 
them, and from first to last has given the Germans a great deal 
of trouble. Although he can boast of but a paltry number of 
followers, he fights in a waterless, mountainous country, where 
concealment is easy and pursuit difficult. Increased settle- 
ment of the country by Europeans — which may yet be brought 
about by the discovery of mineral wealth — would soon, dispose 
of the inconveniences caused by these nomad Hottentots. 

In Togoland, on the Slave Coast of West Africa, there have 
been few events worth recording since the establishment of a 

17 — 2 



26o The Colonization of Africa, [Chap. xiv. 

German protectorate thirteen years ago. Boundaries have 
been settled with France and England, except a small area of 
debateable land on the White Volta, which will probably be 
shared between England and Germany; high and less un- 
healthy land for European settlement has been discovered in 
the interior; there have been no disturbances with the natives^ 
and German trade has prospered. 



CHAPTER XV. 



THE FRENCH IN MADAGASCAR. 

The Island of Madagascar is possibly alluded to by the 
Alexandrian Greek geographer, Ptolemy, who wrote during the 
second century after the birth of Christ, as "Menouthias^"; 
and by other classical geographers as Monouthis or Menouthe- 
seas, though it is more probable that at most the Island of 
Pemba or one of the Comoros was meant both by Ptolemy's 
informants and the unknown authors of the Periplus of the 
Erythraean Sea who first used the term "Menouthias" a 
century earlier (about a.d. 50). Then comes a break, and 
when the study of geography is resumed in Europe the allusions 
to this island are more obvious, and evidently come through 
post-Islamic Arabs; a large island in the Indian Ocean is 
alluded to as "Albargoa," and " Manutia-Alphil." Older 
Arab names were Serandab, Phenbalon, Quambalon. Later 
an allusion is made to it in Arab writings as '' Jazirat-al-Komr " < 
— " Island of the Full Moon," but this name more probably 
applies to what are still called the Comoro Islands, an adjoin- 
ing archipelago. On the maps of the Venetian geographers 
Fra Mauro and Andrea Bianco between 1457 and 1459, 
wherein use has been made of Arab information, the Cape of 
Good Hope is indicated (forty years before the discovery of 
Diaz) as Cavo di Diab(oio), and Madagascar is given as a 
triangular island to the north-east, and has on it the names of 

^ Though there is much stronger evidence to show that Menouthias was 
a little island close to the African coast. 



262 The Colonization of Africa, [Chap. 

Sofala and Xengibar. From Arab sources we learn that an 
Indian dhow in 1420 rounded the southernmost point of 
Africa — Cape Diab — and, turning round, sailed back again 
past Madagascar, on the shore of which island they discovered 
a rukh's egg^ The first authentic news of Madagascar was 
brought to Portugal near the end of the 15th century by Pedro 
de Covilham, whose journeys overland to India have been 
alluded to in Chapter 11. On the ist of February, 1506, a 
Portuguese fleet sent out by King Manoel, under Francisco de 
Almeida, discovered the east coast of Madagascar, and ulti- 
mately named the island "Sao Louren90," because in the 
following year its west coast was discovered and its shape more 
clearly defined by Gomez d'Abreu on St Laurence's Day 
(loth August). The name "Madagascar," like the adjective 
"Malagasy," is probably of native origin, the former word 
having been introduced in its present form by the Portu- 
guese, and the latter by the French. 

It was not until 1540 that any Portuguese actually settled 
on the island, and those who made this venture at its south- 
east extremity were nearly all massacred in 1548. At the end 
of the 1 6th century the Dutch visited Madagascar, and about 
the same time Dominican, Ignatian, and Lazarist monk-mis- 
sionaries made an unsuccessful attempt to obtain a hearing for 
Christianity. ^Between 16 18 and 1640 English and Dutch 
adventurers nibbled at Madagascar, but the hostile and 
treacherous attitude of the natives and the unhealthy climate 
of the island caused these attempts to end invariably in 
disaster. In 1642, however, the French " Company of the 
East " was formed under the patronage of Cardinal Richelieu 
with the main object of colonizing Madagascar. Pronis, a 
French Protestant of dissolute habits, was sent out as Governor. 
Two years later a rival project for the same purpose was started 
in England under the presidency of Prince Rupert, and a small 
station was founded at St Augustine's Bay, but this was soon 

* Almost certainly this was an egg of the gigantic Aepyomis, 



XV.] The French in Madagascar, 263 

after abandoned, and the Company broken up on account of 
the Civil War in England. 

The name of the first French settlement at the south-east 
extremity of Madagascar was " Fort Dauphin." Pronis, whose 
immoral life shocked the French settlers, was replaced as 
Governor by Flacourt, but the fortunes of the settlement were 
chequered. The parent Company got into trouble, and its 
charter was abolished. The royal concession of Madagascar 
was then bandied about from nobleman to nobleman, and was 
finally sold to Louis XIV, who, having reassumed these rights 
on behalf of the crown, sent out the Due de la Meilleraye. 
One of the officers of the staff of the Due de la Meilleraye was 
Vacher de Rochelle, who explored the country, and acquired 
the rare advantage of winning the fHendship of the Malagasy. 
Vacher de Rochelle, for some reason unknown nicknamed and 
ordinarily known as La Case^ was admired by the natives for 
his courage, and was invited to marry the heiress of a powerful 
native chief. He did so and becoming dissatisfied with the 
mismanagement of the French settlement retired into the 
interior, and became King-Consort of the state of Ambole at 
the death of his father-in-law. Nevertheless, when the French 
got into difficulties with the natives and were hard pressed 
Vacher de la Rochelle came to their assistance with great 
bravery. This remarkable person, whose life should be written 
by some framer of romances, died about 167 1, assassinated by 
a native. 

In 1664 the French East India Company was founded, 
and took over Madagascar amongst other concessions under 
the pretentious title of Gallia Orientalis. As if to punish them 
for this overweening assumption, a great massacre occurred eight 
years afterwards, leading to the almost entire extinction of the 
French settlers round Fort Dauphin. The few survivors fled 
to the Island of Bourbon (which the French had taken in 1642). 
Nevertheless, in spite of this disaster, the French Government 
^ But by the natives as Andrian Potsy, i.e. "White King." 



264 The Colonization of Africa. [Chap. 

calmly annexed Madagascar by an Order in Council of 1686, 
which was confirmed in 17 19, 1720, and 1725. 

At the end of the 17 th and the beginning of the i8th 
century, European pirates, who had begun to infest the eastern 
seas, and to trade in defiance of the commercial monopolies 
given to various Chartered East Indian companies, gradually 
made Madagascar their head-quarters, and formed several 
strongly fortified settlements hidden away up creeks or inlets 
or the mouths of rivers. Some of these pirates founded a 
cosmopolitan city of freedom which they called " Libertatia," 
on the island of St Marie, off the east coast of Madagascar. 
They were swept away by English and French war vessels in 
1722-23. 

In 1750 the French East India Company created a settle- 
ment on the island of St Marie de Madagascar, which underwent 
violent vicissitudes of fortune for the first few years of its life. 
In 1768 Fort Dauphin was for a short time reoccupied. In 
that year a man of superior scientific attainments, M. Poivre, 
was appointed Governor of Mauritius and initiated a scientific 
investigation of Madagascar by sending there a French 
naturalist, Philibert Commerson, who, as the result of his brief 
examination of the fiora and fauna pointed out the isolated 
character of Madagascar. In 1774 the French naturalist 
Sonnerat^ visited Madagascar, and discovered the Ravenala or 
" Traveller's Tree," and that extraordinary aberrant lemur, the 
Ayeaye. 

In 1772 Madagascar was visited by a type of adventurer 
then very uncommon, an Austrian Pole, called Benyowski, 
who alternately offered his allegiance to France and England, 
and ultimately tried to carve out for himself a native Malagasy 
principality, as the result of which he was killed by the French 
in 1786. 

Allusions were made in the first chapter of this book to the 

* Already famous for his discoveries in India, and after whom a 
beautiful jungle fowl is named. 



XV.] The French in Madagascar. 265 

Malay invasion of Madagascar. This great island seems to 
have at first been peopled by negro or negroid races from East 
Africa, while Arabs had from very early days settled for trading 
purposes in the adjoining Comoro Islands^ and in the north 
of Madagascar. But at a period of time probably antecedent 
to the Christian era Madagascar was invaded by a people of 
Malay stock, coming thither from the Malay Archipelago. 
Despite the vast distance which separates Java and Madagascar, 
there is a current always streaming from the Sunda Islands 
towards the east coast of Madagascar and the Comoro Islands. 
Aided by the east Trade Winds, Malay junks or even outrigger 
canoes with sails might conceivably be driven across the 
Indian Ocean to Madagascar in a few weeks. Even of recent 
years cases have been known of Javanese junks being stranded 
on the Comoro Islands, in one case with a Javanese crew on 
board. However, numbers of Malays must have invaded 
Madagascar at once in order to have been able to overcome 
and absorb the previous negro inhabitants. It would almost 
seem as though we had here an instance of deliberate over-sea 
colonization on the part of this interesting race, which had 
already pushed eastward, almost further from its base> to the 
Hawaii Islands. When the term " Malay " is used to describe 
these Asiatic invaders of Madagascar it does not necessarily 
imply the direct descendants of the Malays of the Malay 
Archipelago, but of an older race, from whom Malays, Poly- 
nesians, and other non-Papuan peoples of the Pacific are 
descended — a divergent branch of the Mongol stock ^. 

^ The Malay immigration into the Comoro Islands was relatively 
slight The bulk of the population was composed of East Coast negroes, 
speaking a Bantu dialect allied to the tongues spoken on the 2^nzibar coast. 
There was a large influx of Arabs, however, and this mingling with the 
negroes produced the present race of the Comoro Islanders, which is a 
very fine type of the successful results that attend the mixture of the 
Semite and the negro. 

^ The Hovas of Central Madagascar are said to bear a strong physical 
resemblance to the Japanese. 



266 The Colonization of Africa. [Chap. 

About the middle of the i8th century a tribe dwelling on 
the high plateau of East-central Madagascar, known as the 
Hovas, was much harried by the more mixed races around 
them, who were of stronger physique. At last, driven into 
a corner, they turned at bay, and from being the persecuted 
became the persecutors: by means of much better military 
organization they pursued and conquered the tribes which 
had harassed them, and their conquests, spreading to the 
east coast and the south, brought them into contact with 
European traders and settlers. 

In 1792 the National Assembly of France sent M. Lescal- 
lier to visit Madagascar. In 1801 Bory de St Vincent went 
thither and announced that the colonization of Madagascar 
would atone to France for the loss of San Domingo. In 
the following year Mr Inverarity, of the Honourable East 
India Company's service, made a survey of Bembatoka Bay, 
a harbour on the west coast, since better known by the 
name of its principal town, Mojanga. Lord Keith, the 
British admiral in. those waters, had visited the place in 
1791, and had directed the attention of the Indian Govern- 
ment to the worth of Madagascar. In 1807 the French, in 
spite of British hostilities, made a determined attempt to 
settle at Foule Points In the following year, Impoina, the 
most powerful Hova chief on the Imerina plateau, died, 
leaving the supreme Hova chieftainship to his second son, 
Radama. 

When the English had seized Mauritius, Bourbon, and 
the Seychelle Islands, it was determined to finish the work 
of clearing the French out of the Indian Ocean by taking 
the trading stations which still remained in their possession 
on the east coast of Madagascar, namely, Tamatave and 
Foule Point. In 181 1 this was effected, and Tamatave was 
occupied by British soldiers. This capture was ratified by 
the definite treaty signed at Paris on May 30, 18x4, which 

^ A post a little to the north of Tamatave on the east coast. 



XV.] The French in Madagascar, 267 

ceded the settlements in Madagascar as "one of the de- 
pendencies of Mauritius \" The Island of Bourbon was, 
however, restored to France by this treaty, and was re- 
christened Reunion. Sir Robert Farquhar, a very enterprising 
governor of Mauritius, obtained soon afterwards a large 
concession from the native chiefs of the north-east of 
Madagascar, which included Diego Suarez Bay. Various 
proclamations were issued in the Mauritius Gazette claiming 
Madagascar as a British possession. On the other hand, it 
had been agreed that all French possessions in Madagascar 
which were in existence in 1792 were to be restored to 
France by England; but as a matter of fact, in 1792 France 
held no post in Madagascar, all places having been abandoned. 
Tamatave was not founded till 1804. All this confusion was 
due to the ignorance of local geography, then most character- 
istic of both British and French Government offices. Never- 
theless, it is clear that France imagined that she still had 
rights over Madagascar, because in 1817 the French Governor 
of Reunion protested against the British proclamation de- 
claring Madagascar an appendage of Mauritius, and the 
French protest was further supported by the reoccupation 
of the island of St Marie de Madagascar. While Sir Robert 
Farquhar was in England on leave of absence, the Acting- 
Commissioner, a military officer named Hall, deliberately 
undid much of Sir Robert Farquhar* s work, and thereby 
prejudiced any further insistence on British claims over 
Madagascar. Henceforth when Sir Robert Farquhar returned 
he deemed it the better policy to back up the efforts of the 
Hova king Radama to conquer the whole of the island, and 
proclaim himself king of all Madagascar, in spite of a protest 
from the French, which was absolutely disregarded. 

In 1 818 the first missionaries of the London Missionary 
Society arrived, and established themselves on the Hova 

^ Further confinned by the treaty of the 13th of November, 18 15. 



< .. 



268 The Colonization of Africa. [Chap. 

Plateau. Radama was much helped in his conquests by the 
loan of several English soldiers and non-commissioned officers, 
amongst whom one made himself specially prominent, Mr 
Hastie. By degrees Radama took possession of Tamatave 
(held for some years by a French mulatto, Jean Rend), and 
of all other French posts on the mainland of Madagascar, 
including Fort Dauphin. Here he cut down the French flag 
and deported the small French garrison to the island of St 
Marie de Madagascar. Radama died in 1828, and was 
succeeded in a very irregular, Catherine-the-Great manner by 
his senior wife, Ranavdlona. But her policy was not that of 
her great prototype in Russia, for it was a reactionary return 
to barbarism. She persecuted the native Christians and the 
missionaries, showed the greatest enmity to any foreign in- 
fluence, and so flouted the French that the latter were 
compelled to take some notice of her hostility. In 1829 the 
Government of Charles X decided to send a small expedition 
against Madagascar, which was to be largely composed of 
Yolof soldiers from Senegambia — 2l new departure in European 
warfare in Africa to be afterwards largely followed. The 
French bombarded Tamatave successfully, but were repulsed 
at Foule Point, though they made a successful attack on 
another Hova post Still, the results of the expedition were 
ineflective, though the Prince de Polignac wrote to the Queen 
of Madagascar proposing a French protectorate, with French 
stations at Diego Suarez, St Augustine's Bay, and other 
places on the coast But the Government of July reversed 
this policy, and evacuated all French posts on the mainland 
of Madagascar, after which there was not for years a French- 
man on Madagascar soil, with the exception of a remarkable 
personage named Laborde, originally a French shipwrecked 
sailor, who had been sent up to the Queen of Madagascar 
for her to decide on his fate. From his comely appearance 
he found great favour in her eyes, and was the only European 
tolerated at her court, where he attained a very influential 



XV.] The French in Madagascar. 269 

position. In 1833 a French surveying party had pronounced 
Diego Suarez Bay to be a very suitable place for a settlement. 

During the '30's of the present century Queen Ranavdlona 
had made herself infamous by her persecution of the native 
Christians and by forcing all European missionaries to leave 
the island; in addition to which her soldiers in exacting 
tribute and in emphasizing their conquests over the Sakalavas 
committed the most atrocious cruelties and wholesale 
slaughters. The Queen of Madagascar, feeling at last even 
in her remoteness that she was banned by Europe, sent an 
embassy in 1836 to William IV of England, but the envoys 
effected nothing in the way of renewing friendly relations. 

In 1840 the Sakalavas ^ driven to desperation by the 
Hova attacks, placed themselves under French protection, 
with the result that France, to enforce her protectorate, 
occupied the islands of Nosi Mitsiu, Nosi Be, and Nosi 
Komba, and over the island of Mayotta, in the Comoro 
Archipelago. In 1845 ^^ Hbva Government intensified its 
unfriendliness to Europeans by expelling all foreign traders 
from Tamatave. This action roused the French and English 
Governments, who replied by a joint bombardment of Tamatave. 
Unhappily, the bombardment was followed by a landing party, 
which met with a most disastrous repulse, that neither France 
nor England thought fit to revenge otherwise than by breaking 
off all political and cqmmercial relations with Madagascar. 
Between 1847 ^ind 1849 ^^ French had abolished slavery in 
Reunion, and in their Madagascar possessions; biit this 
philanthropic action subsequently caused outbreaks among the 
Sakalavas, who were angry at having their slave-trading opera- 
tions interfered with by the French. 

Between 1847 and 1852 the queen's son, Rakoto, heir- 
apparent to the throne, applied at intervals for French 

1 The tribes of the western half of Madagascar, a finer race physically 
than the Hovas owing to their much greater intermixture with negroes. 



270 The Colonization of Africa, [Chap. 

protection, in order that he might depose his mother, and 
put an end to her ferocious policy. No very definite answer 
was made to these appeals (which possibly were not genuine, 
but fabricated for their own purposes by the Frenchman 
Laborde, who still lived at the Malagasy capital, and by a M. 
Lambert, who visited Madagascar as a slave-trader), nor were 
they followed up by any action on the part of the French 
Government. In 1853 the merchants of Mauritius, finding 
that the Madagascar Government continued to refuse to pay 
the indemnity demanded by the British Government for the 
disaster of Tamatave (in consequence of which refusal trade 
with Tamatave was forbidden), subscribed amongst themselves 
and paid up the indemnity to the extent of ;^3,i25. Trade 
was then reopened. In 1855 the French adventurer and 
ex-slave-trader, Lambert, visited Antananarivo, and after an 
interview with Prince Rakoto, conveyed from him to the 
French Government fresh proposals for a French protectorate; 
but these were rejected by the Emperor Napoleon III, because 
he was loyal to the British alliance and would do nothing in 
Madagascar which might seem unfriendly to Great Britain. 

In 1856 Mr Ellis, one of the pioneers of the London 
Missionary Society's agents, who, after many years of work had 
left Madagascar in despair in 1836, was invited to return 
thither to confer with the queen, and went out as an informal 
messenger of the British Government His mission resulted 
in nothing, however. Lambert, the French adventurer, returned 
to Madagascar in that year, and escorted to the capital Mme. 
Ida Pfeiffer (one of the earliest of women travellers, the Mrs 
Isabella Bird of her day). Lambert plotted a coup diktat which 
should place Rakoto on the throne under French influence, 
with Lambert himself as Prime Minister. But Rakoto was 
frightened, and kept his mother informed of the conspiracy. 
It was therefore nipped in the bud, and Lambert and Laborde 
were promptly expelled from the country, the latter after many 
years' residence losing in one day all his property in lands and 



XV.] The French in Madagascar, 271 

slaves. But in i86z this ferocious old queen, who had ruled 
Madagascar with a rod of iron for 33 years, and had success- 
fully set Europe at defiance, died, and was succeeded by her 
son Rakoto, who took the title of Radama II. 

If Ranavdlona, his mother, was like Catherine of Russia* 
Radama II resembled in his brief career Catherine's pre- 
decessor, the unhappy Peter III. He reversed the queen's 
anti-Christian policy, abolished customs' duties, and was such 
an enthusiastic reformer as almost to suggest Mightiness. He 
invited and received an English envoy in 1861. Laborde and 
Lambert returned, and were received by him with almost 
extravagant affection. The foolish king signed without hesi- 
tating a deed presented to him by M. Lambert which gave the 
latter the most extravagant concessions in Madagascar. He is 
also supposed to have created Lambert "Due d'Emime," a 
title, however, which the ex-slave-trader soon found it wiser to 
drop from the ridicule it entailed. At this time also Roman 
Catholic missionaries^ came out to settle in the Hova country. 
Mr Ellis also returned, and brought letters of congratulation 
from the British Government. The English missionaries re- 
established themselves, and in 1862 British and French Consuls 
were established at Antananarivo. The French Consul was 
Laborde, who had resided for so many years in Madagascar. 
But the Hovas were profoundly dissatisfied with their king's 
reforms and extraordinary generosity to Europeans. A palace 
revolution took place in 1862, and the unhappy Radama was 
strangled. A female cousin, Rabodo (Rasoherina), was pro- 
claimed queen, but was dominated by the Prime Minister, as 
have been subsequently all the remaining queens of Madagas- 
car. The French treaty was denounced on account of Lambert's 
claims. These last were compounded for finally by the payment 
of ;^36,247. 7 J. in silver. The concession was returned to the 
Malagasy envoys, and solemnly burned at Tamatave. 

» 

^ In 1840 Jesuit priests had again endeavoured to establish themselves 
in Madagascar, on the north-west coast, but they all died from fencer. 



2/2 The Colonization of Africa, [Chap. 

The whole procedure of the French Goveniment in 
supporting Lambert's unfair claim profoundly afifected the 
Hova people, and caused them to be suspicious in future of all 
European enterprise. Queen Rasoherina died in 1868, and 
was succeeded by her cousin, Ranavdlona II,*who established 
Christianity as the state religion. In her reign arose a very 
powerful Prime Minister, afterwards to be famous as the 
opponent of the French, Rainilaiarivony. In 1872 the French 
Government again allowed its influence in Madagascar to 
wane, and withdrew its subsidy from the Jesuit missionaries ; 
but with returning energy, and in the dawn of the new 
phase of colonial activity, it resumed a more active policy 
at the beginning of the '8o*s. Laborde, the French Consul, 
died in 1878, but the Malagasy Government opposed his 
landed property passing to his heir on the plea that he was 
only a life tenant, and that no land could be ahenated in 
Madagascar. The French Government supported the claims 
of Laborde's heirs, and disputed the matter between 1880 
and 1882, at the same time reviving the idea of a French 
protectorate over the Sakalava of North-west Madagascar. 
The situation becoming strained, the Madagascar Govern- 
ment sent a mission to Europe, but it was unsuccessful in 
obtaining assurances of support. The Malagasy argued with 
some justice that the French treaty of 1868 recognized 
the queen's rule over the whole mainland of Madagascar, 
and made no mention of any French protectorate over the 
Sakalavas. But we know in the fable that the lamb's argu- 
ments availed but little with the wolf. The French had 
endeavoured in 1881 to find cause for a quarrel in the murder 
by the Sakalavas of four French subjects on the west coast of 
Madagascar, and claimed an indemnity from the Hova Govern- 
ment ; which, logically, they could not have done if the country 
had been under a French protectorate. The Malagasy Govern- 
ment promptly paid the indemnity demanded ; but when later 
on they endeavoured to strengthen their authority over the 



XV.] The French in Madagascar, 273 

Sakalavas, they were forbidden to do so by the French. In 
the following year, 1882, a French protectorate over the 
northern coast was distinctly asserted, and the demand was 
made that the Hova flag should be withdrawn from those 
territories. The demand was refused, and the French 
Commissioner left Antananarivo. Lord Granville in 1882 
protested against the assertion of French claims to the North- 
west coast of Madagascar, but received no immediate reply, 
nor was the opposition of the British Government deemed 
an obstacle worth taking into account, seeing that we had 
already tied our hands with the occupation of Egypt. It 
was, however, asserted by the French with some degree of 
truth that a certain Sakalava chief opposite Nosi B^ had 
concluded protectorate treaties with France in 1840 and 1843. 
Another cause of complaint which France urged against 
Madagascar was the passing of a law in 1881 forbidding the 
Malagasy to sell their land to foreigners ; but in 1883 this 
complaint was somewhat obviated by other edicts facilitating 
the transfer of land on perpetual leases. Nevertheless in May 
1883 war broke out between France and Madagascar, and the 
French fleet under Admiral Pierre captured Mojanga. Sub- 
sequently Admiral Pierre steamed round the island, and 
anchored in the roadstead of Tamatave, where he found 
H.M.S. Dryad, Commander Johnstone, already watching 
events. The French admiral, after delivering an ultimatum, 
which was rejected, bombarded and occupied Tamatave, and 
destroyed other Hova establishments on the East coast. 
Mr Shaw, an EngHsh medical missionary, was established at 
Tamatave, and, beyond rendering medical assistance to the 
wounded natives, took no part in the struggle. Nevertheless, 
his dispensary was broken into, he was arrested, accused of 
poisoning French soldiers \ and was closely confined as a 



^ Who had made themselves ill by appropriating and drinking his claret 
— that was all. 

J. A. 18 



274 ^^ Colonization of Africa, [Chap. 

prisoner on the French flag-ship. The British Consul, 
Pakenham, who had gone down to Tamatave and was very ill, 
was ordered to quit the town in 24 hours, but died before this 
time elapsed. Anglo-French relations were severely strained 
by the attempt of the French to intercept Captain Johnstone's 
mails. When the news of French action reached England 
Mr Gladstone made a very serious speech in the House of 
Commons regarding Mr Shaw's arrest. The French Govern- 
ment, feeling its agents had gone . too far, made a conciliatory 
reply. Mr Shaw was released, and given an indemnity of 
^1,000. In the mean time the Queen of Madagascar died, 
and was succeeded by another queen, Ranavdlona III. 
Admiral Pierre also fell ill, and died just as he reached 
Marseilles. His successor. Admiral Galiber, did much to 
restore cordial relations between the British and French 
officials by his courteous manner. In 1884 an Englishman 
named Digby Willoughby, who had been a volunteer in the 
Zulu war, succeeded in running a cargo of arms and ammu- 
nition across to the south coast of Madagascar, and in reward 
for his energy was taken into the service of the Malagasy 
Government, made an officer in their army, and Anally rose to 
be their Commander-in-Chief. The war dragged on through 
1885, causing some dissatisfaction and lassitude in France. 
It is probable that the French Government would not have 
insisted on the protectorate but for German action on the 
adjoining coast of Africa, which caused the French to feel that 
in the African scramble they should be fairly represented. At 
last a treaty of peace was negotiated, and finally concluded in 
January, 1886. General Willoughby represented the Malagasy 
Government at Tamatave, and concluded a treaty in their 
name. This agreement gave France a virtual protectorate 
over Madagascar — at any rate, a control over her foreign 
relations — an establishment at Diego Suarez Bay, and an 
indemnity of ;^4oo,ooo. 

A few months later, in June 1886, France declared her 



maf itfir^id 

■ •■■ ■■ ■ r,uffl,,ert>u:frior,,l^ 



I \UnktaUifh-liiflidl4i6li A/rIra; imfsuliU far Euratfan cstmizalioit, but Jet tki meH parti 

ttial c-mimtr%ial-valin aiui iiikaiilld bji fairly dBcilt, gOBCmoMe racti; tkl A^ea af Ik 



XV.] The French in Madagascar. 275 

protectorate over all the Comoro Islands, of which she had 
already annexed Mayotta in 1840. 

In 1890, England, in return for the waiving of French 
opposition to a British protectorate over 2^nzibar, recognized 
a French protectorate over Madagascar. But the Malagasy 
themselves had been sullenly refusing their recognition of any 
such protectorate and endeavouring to shake themselves free 
of the trammels of the 1886 Treaty. It was believed in 
England and in France that the conquest of Madagascar 
would be an extremely difficult undertaking, that the oppo- 
sition of the Hovas would be a determined one, and that their 
warlike energy combined with the terribly unhealthy climate 
would make success doubtful or dearly purchased. For some 
nine years, therefore, the French Government put up with 
many a rebuff from the powerful Prime Minister of Mada- 
gascar. But at last the French were obliged either to let their 
protectorate become a dead letter or enforce their right to a 
predominant influence at the Malagasy court. Their ultimatum 
in 1895 was rejected. A powerful French expedition was sent 
— over 10,000 French soldiers, and an equal number of 
Senegalese. The idea of landing at Tamatave and forcing a 
way up to the capital through dense forests and across steep 
mountain terraces, was wisely abandoned, and in preference 
the forces entered Bembatoka Bay (Mojanga), on the west 
coast, and were transported up the Ikopa river. From the 
point wheire its navigability came to an end they started over- 
land for Antananarivo, which was captured after the feeblest 
resistance on the part of the Hovas ^ 

^ Whether the Hovas had overlooked the Mojanga route and had 
decided to concentrate all their resistance on the apprroach from Tamatave 
is not known; but after their repeated boasts as to the determined 
resistance they would make to an invader, the collapse of their defence 
and the feebleness of the resistance they offered to the French are matters 
of considerable astonishment. It must have been mainly due to the fact 
that the Hova rule over the bulk of the island was hated, and that 
the other tribes were not inclined to fight for its maintenance. 

18—2 



276 The Colonization of Africa, [Chap. xv. 

At first an attempt was made to continue the government 
of the Queen of Madagascar under French protection, but this 
only led to treachery and intrigue on the part of the Hovas. 
The Prime Minister was exiled, the queen was deposed. In 
1896 the island was annexed to France, and became a French 
colony. At the same time, and by this act of annexation, the 
commercial treaties of other nations with Madagascar were 
annulled, the coasting trade was confined to vessels flying the 
French flag, and the fiscal policy adopted was that of the 
severest Protectionist type, the commerce and enterprise of 
other nations being practically excluded from Madagascar. 

The Hova rule was bloody and barbarous, and more 
recent by quite a hundred years than the establishment of 
European influence. But it at least established freedom of 
religion^, and complete freedom of commerce and enterprise 
for all civilized nations. By pursuing this retrograde policy in 
commerce and religion France has somewhat alienated the 
sympathy and interest with which one might otherwise have 
watched her determined attempts to civilize Madagascar. 

^ Since the annexation to France, and the consequent dominating 
influence of the Roman Catholic missionaries, many natives have heen 
constrained to exchange their Protestant faith for Roman Catholic 
Christianity. 



CHAPTER XVI. 



CONCLUSION. 



We have now seen the result of these race movements 
during three thousand years which have caused nations supe- 
rior in physical or mental development fih the Negro, the 
Negroid, and the Hamite to move down on Africa as a field 
for their colonization, cultivation, and commerce. The great 
rush, however, has only been made within the last sixteen years. 
Now there remains but very little of the map of Africa which 
is uncoloured, that is, attributed to the independent posses- 
sion of a native state. There are still some tracts, however, 
which are generally recognized as independent, or the over- 
lordship of which is not universally recognized, and in the 
ultimate settlement of whose fate fresh developments of 
European energy may take place. There is Morocco on the 
extreme North-west of the continent, the bulk of whose trade is 
with England, and whose principal seaport was once in English 
hands: yet which has France for a chafing neighbour on 
the East, and Spain for an old and unforgiving enemy. There 
is Egypt, in the occupation and under the control of England, 
which is now striving with British and Egyptian soldiers to 
regain the lost empire of the Sudan. There is Abyssinia, 
which for many reasons connected with its history, its religion, 
and its sturdy assertion of independence deserves more than 
any other state of Africa to preserve that independence, 
provided she will abstain from offence, and recognize her true 



278 The Colonization of Africa, [Chap. 

geographical limits. There is the savage Muhammadan state 
of Wadai to the east of Lake Chad, and the hinterland of 
Turkish Tripoli. Assuming that France will occupy Baghirmi, 
and that Darfur will return to its former position as an 
Egyptian province, there is no remaining portion of Africa, 
other than the countries mentioned, which is not more or less 
assigned to definite European control. Liberia perhaps may 
be pointed out as a further instance of an independent native 
state ; but the independence of Liberia is guaranteed in such 
terms by Great Britain and the United States as to imply a 
joint protectorate of those two countries over that interesting 
experiment in giving the American negro an opportunity of 
ruling and civilizing his savage brothers. 

What is Europe going to do with Africa ? It seems to me 
there are three courses to be pursued, corresponding with the 
three classes of territory into which Africa falls when con- 
sidered geographically. There is, to begin with, that much 
restricted healthy area, lying outside the tropics (or in very 
rare cases, at great altitudes inside the tropics), where the 
climate is healthy and Europeans can not only support exist- 
ence under much the same conditions as in their own lands 
and freely rear children to form in time a native European 
race, but where at the same time there is no dense native 
population to dispute by force or by an appeal to common 
fairness the possession of the soil. Such lands as these are of 
relatively small extent compared to the mass of Africa. They 
are confined to the districts south of the Zambezi (with the 
exception of the neighbourhood of the Zambezi and the eastern 
coast-belt); a few square miles on the mountain plateaux of 
North and South Nyasaland ; the northern half of Tunisia, a 
few districts of North-east and North-west Algeria and the 
Cyrenaica (northern projection of Barka); perhaps also the 
northernmost portion of Morocco. The second category con- 
sists of countries like much of Morocco, Algeria, Tunis, and 
Tripoli; Barka, Egypt, Abyssinia and parts of Somaliland; 



XVI.] Conclusion, 279 

where climatic conditions and soil are not wholly opposed* to 
the healthful settlement of Europeans, but where the competi- 
tion or numerical strength or martial spirit of the natives 
already in possession are factors opposed to the substitution of a 
large European population for the present owners of the soil. 
The third category consists of all that is left of Africa, mainly 
tropical, where the climatic conditions make it impossible for 
Europeans to cultivate the soil with their own hands, to settle for 
many years, or to bring up healthy families. Countries lying 
under the first category I should characterize as being suitable 
for European colonies, a conclusion somewhat belated, since 
they have nearly all become such. The second description of 
territory I should qualify as " tributary states," countries where 
good and settled government cannot be maintained by the 
natives without the control of a European power, the European 
power retaining in return for the expense and trouble of such 
control the gratification of performing a good and interesting 
work, and a field of employment for a few of her choicer sons 
and daughters. The third category consists of "plantation 
colonies'' — vast territories to be governed as India is governed, 
despotically but wisely, and with the first aim of securing good 
government and a reasonable degree of civilization to a large 
population of races inferior to the European. Here, however, 
the European may come in small numbers with his capital, 
his energy, and his knowledge to develop a most lucrative 
commerce, and obtain products necessary to the use of his 
advanced civilization. 

It is possible that these distinctions may be rudely set 
aside by the pressure of natural laws one hundred, two 
hundred years hence, if the other healthy quarters of the 
globe become over-populated, and science is able to annul the 

. ^ Though in the Sahara desert and the coast region of German S. W. 
Africa, the great summer heat and the waterless nature of the soil are 
obstacles sufficient, at any rate at the present time, to render the^e 
countries uncolonizable. 



>/ 



28o The Colonization of Africa. [Chap. 

unhealthy effects of a tropical climate. A rush may then be 
made by Europeans for settlement on the lands of tropical 
Africa, which in the struggle for existence may sweep away 
contemptuously the pre-existing rights of inferior races. But 
until such a contingency comes about, and whilst there is so 
much healthy land still unoccupied in temperate Africa, it is 
safer to direct our efforts along the lines laid down in these 
three categories I have quoted. Until Frenchmen have 
peopled the north of Tunis and the Aures Mountains of 
Algeria it would be foolish for their Government to lure French 
emigrants to make their homes in Senegambia or on the 
Congo ; until Cape Colony, Natal, the Orange Free State, the 
Transvaal, Bechuanaland, and Rhodesia south of the 2^mbezi 
are as thickly populated with whites as the resources of the 
country permit, it would be most unwise to force on the 
peopling by Europeans of Sokoto or British Central Africa. 
On the other hand, however healthy the climate of Egypt may 
be, it is a country for the Egyptians, and not for Englishmen, 
except as administrators, instructors, capitalists, or winter 
tourists. Since we have begun to control the political affairs 
of parts of Wiest Africa and the Niger basin our trade with 
those countries, rendered secure, has risen from a few hundred 
thousand pounds a year to about ;^6,ooo,ooo. This is 
sufficient justification for our continued government of these 
regions and their occasional cost to us in men and money. 

In the north of Africa the white Berber race will tend in 
course of time to weaken in its Muhammadan fanaticism, and 
to mingle with the European immigrants as it mingled with 
them in prehistoric days, when it invaded Spain and southern 
Europe. The Arab will gradually draw aloof, and side with 
those darker Berbers, who will long range the Sahara wastes 
unenvied, or else he will betake himself to the Sudan, and lead 
a life there freer from European restrictions, even though it be 
under a loose form of European rule. The Egyptians will 
probably continue to remain the Egyptians they have been for 



XVI.] Conclusion. 281 

untold centuries, no matter what waves of Syrian, Libyan, 
Hittite, Persian, Greek, Roman, Arab, Turkish, French or 
English invaders swept over the land ; but they will probably 
come within that circle of confederated nations which will 
form the future British Empire — nations of every origin, colour, 
race, religion, united only by one supreme ruler, and the one 
supreme bond of peace, mutual defence, and unfettered inter- 
changing commerce. The Negro or Negroid races of all 
Africa between the Sahara Desert, the Red Sea, and the 
Zambezi will remain Negro or Negroid, even though here and 
there they are lightly tinctured with European blood, and on 
the east are raised to a finer human type by the development 
of the Hamites, the interbreeding of Arabs, and the immigration 
of Indians. I predict a great overflow of India into those 
insufficiently inhabited, uncultivated parts of East Africa now 
ruled by England and Germany. Indians will probably make 
their way as traders into British Central Africa, but these 
territories north of the Zambezi will be governed firstly in the 
interests of an abundant and powerful negro population, which 
before many years have elapsed will be as civilized and edu- 
cated as are at least a million of the negro inhabitants south 
of the Zambezi at the present day. South of the Zambezi 
great changes will take place. The black man may continue 
to increase and multiply and live at peace with the white man, 
content to perform for the latter many services which his 
bodily strength and indifference to health permit him to render 
advantageously. But as the white population increases fi-om 
thousands to millions it will tend to reserve to itself all the 
healthy country in the extreme south of Africa and inland 
along the great central plateau which stretches up to the 
Zambezi, and the black man will be pushed by degrees into 
the low-lying, unhealthy coast regions of the south-east or into 
the rich but fever-stricken countries in the Zambezi valley, 
which must for an indefinite period be regarded as a Black 
Man's Reserve. 



282 The Colonization of Africa. [Chap. 

The European nations or national types which will pre- 
dominate in the New Africa — not necessarily politically — ^are 
the British (with whom perhaps Dutch and Flemish will fuse), 
the French and the French-speaking Belgians, the German, 
the Italian, the Greek, and the Portuguese. The Spaniard 
may be met with on the North-west coast, but he has no future 
before him in that continent equal to what the Portuguese 
have in Angola, which will be to them a second Brazil. 
Italy's share of territory may be small, and Greece may have 
none at all, but the North, the North-east, and North-Central 
parts of Africa will teem with busy, thrifty, enterprising Italian 
and Greek settlers, colonists, merchants and employes \ 

The great languages of New Africa will be English, French, 
Italian, Portuguese, Arabic, Hausa, and Swahili. It is doubt- 
ful whether German will ever become implanted as an African 
language any more than Dutch has taken root in the Malay 
Archipelago. It is true that Dutch in a corrupted jargon has 
become a second language to the Hottentots and a few Bantu 
negroes. But Dutch is much simpler in construction, and 
easier of pronunciation to a negro than German. I have 
observed that in the Cameroons the Germans make use of the 
'pigeon' English of the coast as a means of communication 
with the people when they do not speak in the easily acquired 
Duala tongue. In Blast Africa, on the other hand, they use 
Swahili universally, just as the Dutch use Malay throughout 
their Asiatic possessions. English may not become the 
dominant language in all countries under British influence in 
Africa. It will certainly become the universal tongue of 
Africa south of the Zambezi, and possibly, but not so certainly, 
in British Central Africa, where, however, it will have the 
influence of Swahili to contend with. In Bridsh East Africa, 
in Zanzibar, and in Uganda the prevailing speech will be the 

^ It is interesting to observe how under the British aegis Maltese are 
prospering in Egypt and on the northern and eastern coasts of Africa. 



XVI.] Conclusion. 383 

easy, simple, expressive, harmonious Swahili language, a happy 
compromise between the Arabic and Bantu. In Somaliland, 
£g)^t, the Sahara, and the Sudan Arabic will be the domi- 
nating language; but Italian, French, and English will be 
much used in Lower Egypt. Italian, Arabic, and French will 
remain coequal in use in Barka, Tripoli, Tunis, and Eastern 
Algeria; French and Arabic (French perhaps prevailing) in 
Algeria ; and French will make its influence felt in Morocco 
(though it will contend there with Arabic and Spanish), and 
right across the Western Sahara to Senegambia and the upper 
Niger. English will be, as it is now — either in jargon or 
correctly spoken — the language of intercommunication on the 
West coast of Africa from the Gambia to the Gaboon ; French, 
Swahili and Portuguese in the Congo basin; Portuguese in 
Angola and in Mozambique; and Hausa in Nigeria and 
around Lake Chad. In Madagascar French will prevail, 
mingling in the Comoro Islands with Swahili. 

Paganism will disappear. The continent will soon be 
divided between nominal Christians and nominal Muham- 
madans, with a strong tendency on the part of the Muham- 
madans towards an easy-going rationalism, such as is fast 
making way in Algeria, where the townspeople and the culti- 
vators in the more settled districts, constantly coming into 
contact with Europeans, are becoming indifferent to the more 
inconvenient among their Muhammadan observances, and are 
content, to live with little more religion than an observance 
of the laws, and a desire to get on well with their neighbours. 
Yet before Muhammadanism loses its savour there will 
probably be many uprisings against Christian rule among 
Muhammadan peoples who have been newly subjected to 
control. The Arab and the Hamite for religious reasons may 
strive again and again to shake off the Christian yoke, but I 
strongly doubt whether there will be any universal mutiny of 
the black man against the white. The negro has no idea of 
racial affinity. He will equally ally himself to the white or to 



284 The Colonization of Africa. [Chap. xvi. 

the yellow races in order to subdue his fellow black, or to 
regain his freedom from the domination of another negro tribe. 
There may be here and there a revolt against the white rule 
in such and such a state ; but the diverse civilizations under 
which the African will be trained, and the different languages 
he will be taught to talk, will be sufficient to make him as 
dissimilar in each national development as the white man has 
become in Europe. And just as it would need some amazing 
and stupendous event to cause all Asia to rise as one man 
against the invasion of Europe, so it is difficult to conceive 
that the black man will eventually form one united negro 
people demanding autonomy, and putting an end to the 
control of the white man, and to the immigration, settlement, 
and intercourse of superior races from Europe and Asia. 



J 



SUPPLEMENTARY NOTES. 



Affairs in Africa move so quickly, such developments 
and changes are constantly taking place, that it is difficult 
for the historian to hit on any phase of seeming finality at 
which to pause for a retrospect. Since the bulk of this work 
went to press events have happened, or more detailed informa- 
tion has come to hand, rendering it necessary to supplement 
the information given in previous chapters. 

As regards the French in West Africa, the following de- 
velopments have occurred. The Mandingo chief, Samori, 
attempted to advance northwards to the central Niger as 
the last hope of breaking through the ring of French power 
with which he was being surrounded. Colonel Bonnier cut 
him off from that direction, however, in 1895, ^^^ Captain 
Marchand (of Fashoda fame) wrested from him the important 
town of Kong. In 1897 Samori hovered about our Ashanti 
boundary, and his forces attacked a small British surveying 
party, killed the native escort, and carried off the officer. 
Lieutenant Henderson. After a compulsory visit to Samori, 
Lieutenant Henderson was released, and the chief relieved 
himself from all responsibility for the wanton attack on the 
British party by saying, " It was the will of God." 



286 Supplementary Notes, 

At length, in October 1898, the French military authorities 
on the upper Niger made a determined attempt to finish the 
career of this bandit king. By a brilliant feat of arms he was 
brought to bay and his forces routed by Lieutenant Woelfel. 
Samori was taken prisoner by Lieutenant Jacquin and Serjeant 
Brati^res, and has since been exiled to the south of Tunisia. 
No great independent chief now exists in the French Sudan. 

As regards French Congo, M. Liotard, at one time a 
trader, rose gradually to be Governor of the Ubangi Pro- 
vince in 1896. He organized expeditions to extend French 
authority across the Congo watershed into the district of the 
Bahr-al-Gha^l. These expeditions eventually resolved them- 
selves into one undertaking, led by Major Marchand, who 
advanced with a force of about 150 Senegalese and nine 
French officers to Fashoda, on the White Nile. Here, as 
already mentioned in Chapter XH, they were saved from 
possible destruction at the hands of a large force of Dervishes 
by Lord Kitchener's victory at Omdurman. In consequence 
of the protests of the British Government, Major Marchand 
was (November 1898) instructed to leave Fashoda and retire 
through Abyssinia to French Somaliland. 

In reviewing the work of the British in West Africa 
(Chapter VII), a reference to the latest development of af- 
fairs in Benin was accidentally omitted. It should have been 
stated that in Benin, as at Opobo, troubles first began by the 
opposition of the chiefs on the coast-line to free intercourse 
with the markets of the interior. The King of Benin — ^a 
very old Negro monarchy — had for some time maintained a 
Viceroy of the Jekri race near the mouth of the Benin river. 
This man was named Nana. At first very friendly to the 
British, he began to turn against them when the administra- 
tion of the newly formed Niger Coast Protectorate encroached 
on his trading interests, and himself opened hostilities by an 
unprovoked attack on a British gun-vessel His town was 
captured and he was taken prisoner by a naval expedition. 



A 



Supplementary Notes. 287 

After an interval an attempt was made, somewhat rashly, to 
enter into direct relations with the King of Benin, a quasi- 
sacred potentate, who had hitherto held much aloof from 
Europeans. A Deputy-Commissioner of the Protectorate, 
Mr Phillips, accompanied by several other officials, and by 
Captain Boisragon (the commandant of the local police force), 
attempted to visit the king against his will at Benin City, with 
the object of remonstrating with him against the human sacri- 
fices, for which, like Dahome, this odious Negro monarchy 
was celebrated. The expedition avoided all display of force, 
and was practically unarmed, but it was treacherously attacked 
in the jungle on the way to Benin. Nearly all the native 
porters, and all the white officers except two were massacred. 
One of the officers who escaped was Captain Boisragon. 
These two survivors, though badly wounded, and having 
undergone terrible hardships in the dense bush, managed 
to reach the village of a friendly chief. A strong expedi- 
tion, composed of a naval force and of Hausa soldiers under 
British officers, was despatched against Benin in 1897, and 
after a fiercely contested struggle through the tropical jungle, 
reached Benin City, which has remained ever since in the 
occupation of the British. The King of Benin was eventually 
captured and exiled to Old Calabar. 

As regards Portuguese Africa, statements appeared in the 
British and German press in the autumn of 1898 indicating 
the conclusion of an Anglo-German agreement providing that, 
in the event of Portugal being in need of money, Germany 
and England were to come to her assistance, and were to 
receive in exchange the allotment by lease or otherwise of 
the Portuguese dominions in Africa. Delagoa Bay was thus 
to fall eventually under British sway. The particulars of this 
treaty will probably not be made known till the final verdict 
is given by the court of arbitrators, who have been .sitting 
in Switzerland since 1891 to decide the rights and wrongs 
of a British and American railway company which constructed 



288 Supplementary Notes, 

the line of railway between Delagoa Bay and the Transvaal. 
This line was seized by the Portuguese Government in 1889 
on the pretext that the company had broken the conditions 
of the concession. The question was referred in 1891 to the 
arbitration of a Swiss tribunal, and even after seven and a half 
years' deliberation the verdict is still undelivered. 



( 



Ponesglone, Pf otectora tw, Spheres of Influence or occupation of i 

I I PorfufMw ^ggftprangiFraSlati 
Debaicailt er deuhtftU distHcIs have alUmalt sirifti oftht ctaimi 



APPENDIX I. 

NOTABLE EVENTS AND DATES IN THE HISTORY 

OF AFRICAN COLONIZATION. 

B.C. 

Foundation of the colony of Utica on the N. African 

(Tunisian) coast by the Phoenicians . . . about i loo 
Foundation of the colony of Carthage by the Phoenicians about 820 
Expedition of Dorians founds first Greek colony in Cyren- 

aica (modern Barka) about 631 

Pharaoh Necho of Egypt (son of Psammetik) sends out 
Phoenician Expedition from Red Sea which is said to 
have circumnavigated Africa in three years . . about 600 
Conquest of Egypt by the Persians under Cambyses . about 525 
Hanno the Carthaginian explores the West Coast of Africa 
as far south as Sierra Leone and brings back chim- 
panzees about 520 

Alexander of Macedonia conquers Egypt from the Persians ; 

and founds the city of Alexandria .... 332 

The Romans take Egypt under their protection . . . 168 
The Romans definitely conquer and destroy Carthage and 
found the Roman province of Africa (consisting event- 
ually of modern Tunis and part of Tripoli) . . . 146-5 
Numidia (Algeria) annexed to the Roman Empire . 46 

Egypt annexed to the Roman Empire 30 

Romans invade Fezzan (Phazania) 19 

A.D. 

Mauretania (Morocco) annexed to the Roman Empire . 42 

North Africa torn from the Roman Empire by the Vandals 429 
Recovered partially by the Byzantines .... 534 

J. A. 19 



290 Appefidix /. 

A.D. 

The Muhammadan Invasion of Africa : 

Amr-bin-al Asi conquers Egypt 640 

The Arabs inva4e Tripoli and Tunis, defeat the pa- 
trician Gregory and partially destroy Byzantine 

rule 647-8 

Oqba-bin-Nafa is appointed by the Khalif "governor 
of Ifrikiyah" (669); overruns Fezzan and South 
Tunis and founds there the Muhammadan capital 

ofKairwan 673 

Oqba traverses N. Africa till he reaches the Atlantic 

Ocean . . 681 

Carthage taken by the Arabs (698); Tunisia finally 
conquered from the Berbers (705); Morocco and 
Algeria conquered about 708; Spain invaded by 

Arabs and Berbers 711 

First Islamic settlements founded on E. African coast 

about 720; Kilwa Sultanate founded . . . 960 
Aghlabite (Berber) dynasty begins in Tunis in 800 
(Morocco contemporaneously ruled by the Idrisites) 

and comes to an end 909 

Rise of the Fatimite dynasty over Tunis, Tripoli, and 

Egypt (909)) by whom Cairo (Al Kahira) is founded 969 
Great Arab invasion of North Africa (especially Tunis) 

about 1045 

About 1050 commences the invasion of N. Africa from 
the Niger and the Moroccan Sahara by the Berber 
sect of the Mrabitin (Al-moravides), who have 
conquered all N. Africa and Spain by . 1087 

Timbuktu founded by the Tawareq about iioo 

The Third Great Berber dynasty of the Muahadim 
(Al-Mohade) arises in W. Algeria about 11 50, 
conquers Morocco, Spain and Algeria, and finally 
Tunis (from which the Normans are driven away) 1 160 

Hafs dynasty founded in Tunis 1236 

King Louis IX of France ("Saint Louis") invades Egypt 
in 1248 ; is disastrously repulsed, captured and ran- 
somed. Twenty- two years later he invades Tunis, 
where he dies of fever . 1270 



Appendix I, 



291 



Roman Carthage finally destroyed by the Moors, and Tunis 
made the capital of "I frikiyah" .... about 

The Portuguese take Ceuta from the Moors 

The river Senegal reached by Portuguese exploring vessels 
sent out by Prince Henry 

The Canary Islands, discovered by a Norman adventurer 
and taken possession of by Portugal, are transferred 
by that power to Spain 

River Congo discovered by the Portuguese 

Christianity introduced into the kingdom of Congo by the 
Portuguese 

Cape of Good Hope rounded by Vasco de Gama 

Sofala occupied and Portuguese East African Empire 
begun 

Madagascar discovered by the Portuguese .... 

The Emperor Charles V grants a charter to a Flemish 
merchant for the exclusive importation of negro slaves 
into Spanish America : Slave Trade thus definitely 
founded 

The Turks conquer Egypt 

Charles V intervenes in the affairs of Tunis (to restore 
Arab Hafside Sultan and drive out the Turkish corsair 
Khaireddin Barbarossa) 

Charles V sustains disastrous repulse at Algiers (from 
which dates gradual decay of Spanish power over 
North Africa) 

First. British trading ships leave London for the West 
African coast 

Sir John Hawkins conveys the first cargo of negro slaves 
to America under the British flag 

The Turks (having through corsairs founded the Regency 
of Algiers in 15 19, that of Tripoli in 1551) once 
more take Tunis and make it a Turkish Pashalik 

Portugal founds the colony of Angola .... 

Dom Sebastiao, King of Portugal, defeated and slain at the 
battle of Kasr-al-Kabir, and the Portuguese Empire 
over Morocco thenceforth crumbles .... 

Turkey attempts to wrest from Portugal the Zanzibar Coast, 

19 — 2 



A.D. 

271 
[415 

[446 



479 
[485 

[491 
[498 

505 
506 



517 
517 



SZS 

541 

553 
562 



573 
574 



1578 



s 



292 Appendix I, 

A.D. 

but is utterly defeated by the Portuguese Admiral 
Thom^ de Sousa Coutinho 1584 

Abu al Abbas al Mansur, the first ' Sherifian ' Emperor of 
Morocco, who was the victor over Dom Sebastiao, 
sends an army across the Sahara and annexes Tim- 
buktu and the Upper Niger to the Moorish dominions 1590 

The first Dutch trading ships appear on the West African 

Coast 1595 

The Dutch replace the Portuguese at Arguin (N. W. Coast 

of Africa) in 162 1 ; and at Elmina (Gold Coast) . . 1637 

French traders from Dieppe found the Fort of St Louis at 

the mouth of the Senegal 1637 

Foundation of the French Compagnie de L'Orient for the 

purpose of colonising Madagascar .... 1642 

The British East India Company takes the Island of St 

Helena from the Dutch 165 1 

The Dutch take possession of the Cape of Good Hope . 1652 

A British African Company chartered by Charles II 
builds a fort at James Island, at the mouth of the 
Gambia 1662 

This same Company (afterwards the Royal African Com- 
pany), taking advantage of the war declared against 
Holland, seizes and retains several Dutch forts on the 
Gold Coast 1665-72 

Denmark establishes forts on the Gold Coast . about 1672 

Brandenburg (Prussia) builds the Fort of Grossfriedrichs- 

burg on the Gold Coast 1683 

England, to whom Tangier had been ceded by Portugal in 

1662, abandons it to the Sherifian Empire of Morocco 1684 

The rising Arab power of 'Oman has driven Portugal out 

of all her possessions north of Mogambique by . . 1698 

The present Husseinite dynasty of Beys (from 1705 to 188 1 
practically independent sovereigns) is founded in Tunis 
by a Turkish Agha — Hussein bin Ali Bey . . 1705 

Sieur Andr^ de Briie, who went out to St Louis in 1697 as 
the Governor of the French Senegal Company, founds 
during the next 18 years the French colony of Senegal 
and returns to France 1715 



U. 



Appendix L 293 

A.D. 

The French occupy the Island of Mauritius (Bourbon or 

" Reunion " not being occupied until 1 764) . . . 1721 
The Portuguese (having finally lost Mombasa in 1730) 
recognize the Maskat Imamate on the Zanzibar coast 
and decree the Bay of Louren^o Marquez on the south 
and Cape Delgado on the north to be the limits of 

their East African possessions 1752 

^>-^he Portuguese lose Mazagao, their last foothold in Morocco 1769 
Spain acquires Fernando Po in the Gulf of Guinea . 1778 

Sierra Leone ceded to the English by the natives . 1787 

Spain loses Oran and her last hold over Algeria . 1791 

Denmark forbids the Slave Trade to her subjects . 1792 

England first seizes the Cape of Good Hope . . 1795 

Mungo Park discovers the river Niger at Sego . 1796 

Napoleon Buonaparte conquers Egypt, 1798; Nelson de- 
stroys French fleet at Abukir Bay same year ; French 

evacuate Egjrpt 1801 

England finally occupies the Cape of Good Hope 1805 

Sierra Leone and Gambia organised as Crown Colonies . 1807 
An Act of Parliament is passed abolishing the Slave Trade 

in the British dominions 1807 

British capture from the French Seychelles (1794), Mauritius 
and Reunion in j8io, and Tamatave and Island of 

St Marie (Madagascar) in 181 1 

Muhammad Ali destroys the Mamluks in Egypt . . 181 1 
Cape Colony definitely ceded by Holland to Great Britain 1814 
Island of Reunion (Bourbon) restored to France . . 18 14 
Holland abolishes the Slave Trade in her dominions . 18 14 

France and Sweden abolish the Slave Trade . . . 181 5 
France reoccupies Island of St Marie de Madagascar (first 

taken in 1750) 1817 

Invasion of the Egyptian Sudan by Muhammad Ali*s forces 

(1820-22) and foundation of Khartum as its capital 1823 

A British Government Expedition under Oudney, Clapper- 
ton, and Denham discovers Lake Chad . . . 1823 
Governor Sir Charles Macarthy defeated and killed by the 
Ashanti in 1824; consequent first British war with 
Ashanti terminates victoriously 1827 



294 Appendix I, 

A.D. 

The Brothers Lander sent out by British Government trace 
the Niger from Busa to the sea and establish its outlet 

in the Gulf of Guinea 1830 

A French Expedition conquers Algiers .... 1830 

Poiftugal abolishes the Slave Trade 1830 

First British steamers (Macgregor Laird's Expedition) 
navigate the Lower Niger (1832) and discover the 

Benu^ River . . 1833 

Slavery abolished in all British African possessions^ in- 
cluding Cape Colony, by 1834 

First Kaffir War in South Africa 1834 

First "Trekking" of the Boers away from British rule . 1836 
Boer emigrants treacherously massacred by Dingane, King 

of the Zulus 1837 

The Sakalava of N.-West Madagascar place themselves 
under French protection, and France occupies the 

islands of Nosi Bey and Mayotta 1840 

Second Niger Expedition despatched from England . . 1841 
Muhammad Ali the Albanian (once a Turkish officer of 
Bashi-bazuks) confirmed in the hereditary sovereignty 

of Egypt 1841 

The last of the quasi-independent Karamanli Bashas of 
Tripoli seizes and garrisons the important Saharan 
towns of Ghadames and Ghat in 1840-41 ; but is 
himself removed by the Turks, who annex definitely to 
the Turkish Empire Tripoli and Barka . 1842 

Natal becomes a British Colony . . . . . 1843 

Gold Coast finally organised as a Crown Colony . 1843 

French war with Morocco 1844 

Waghom's Overland Route emphatically established across 

Egypt 1845 

Independence of the Freed- Slave State of Liberia recognised 1847 
Abd-al-Kader surrenders ; Constantine (East Algeria) taken 

by the French 1847 

Foundation of the French Freed-slave settlement of Libre- 
ville in the Gaboon 1848 

Krapf and Rebmann discover the snowy Mountains of 

Kenia and Kilimanjaro 1848 



.Appendix L 295 

A.D. 

Slavery has been abolished throughout all the French 

possessions in Africa by ' 1849 

Denmark cedes her Gold Coast forts to England . 1850 

Livingstone and Oswell discover the Central Zambezi 185 1 

Independence of the Transvaal Republic recognized by 

Great Britain 1852 

Representative Government established in Cape Colony . 1853 
General Faidherbe appointed Governor of Senegal in 1854; 
he breaks the Fula power and greatly extends the 

French possessions by 185^6 

A British Expedition is sent out in 1849 under Richardson, 
Oberweg, Vogel and Barth to explore North Central 
Africa: Oberweg navigates Lake Chad and discovers 
the river Shari; Barth visits the Upper Benu^, 
Timbuktu, etc., and returns to England 1855 

Livingstone makes his famous journey from Cape Colony 
to Angola and from Angola to the Indian Ocean, 
exploring the Zambezi from source to mouth, and 

returns to England 1856 

Burton and Speke discover Lake Tanganyika, and Speke 

discovers Victoria Nyanza 1858 

Livingstone and Kirk discover Lake Nyasa . 1859 

Spanish War with Morocco 1859-60 

Zanzibar separated as an independent State from the 

Imamate of 'Oman 1861 

Lagos becomes a British Crown Colony .... 1863 
Speke and Grant establish the Victoria Nyanza Lake as 
the main source of the Nile, visit Uganda, and follow 

the Nile down to Cairo 1860-64 

(Sir) Samuel Baker discovers Lake Albert Nyanza 1864 

Second Government Expedition under Dr Baikie sent out 
to explore rivers Niger and Benu^ (1S54); Dr Baikie 
made Consul for the Niger, founds Lokoja at Niger- 
Benu^ confluence and explores Benu^ (1S57) and 
greatly extends British influence; but dies in 1863; 

Consulate abolished 1866 

Discovery of a diamond near the Orange River in Cape 

Colony 1867 



296 Appendix L 

A.D. 

Lakes Mweru and Bangweolo and the Upper Luapula 

(Congo) R. discovered by Livingstone in 1867 and . 1868 
Basutoland placed under British protection . . 1868 

British Army enters Abyssinia to release captives of King 

Theodore and wins victory of Magdala . 1868 

Establishment of Triple Control over Tunisian finances . 1869 

Opening of Suez Canal 1869 

Sir Samuel Baker appointed Governor-General of the 

Egyptian Sudan 1869 

Dr Schweinfurth discovers the R. Welle, the great northern 

affluent of the Congo 1870 

Livingstone discovers the Lualaba or Upper Congo at 

Nyangwe; is met at Ujiji and relieved by Stanley . 1871 
Insurrection against French in Eastern Algeria suppressed 1871 
Responsible Government introduced into Cape Colony 1872 

Sultan of Zanzibar signs treaty forced on him by England 

for abolition of the Slave Trade 1873 

Second Ashanti War : Sir Garnet Wolseley takes and bums 

Kumasi 1873-4 

Dr Livingstone dies 1873 

Cameron crosses Africa from Zanzibar to Benguela, mapping 

Tanganyika correctly for the first time . . 1873-75 
Stanley circumnavigates the Victoria Nyanza and traces 
the river Congo from Nyangwe to the Atlantic Ocean — 
the greatest journey in African Exploration . 1874-77 

Tran svaal annexed by Great Britain 1877 

The Dual Control of France and England imposed on 

Egyptian Government (1876); Ismail Pasha deposed . 1879 
War between Great Britain and the Zulus .... 1879 
The International Association founded by the King of the 
Belgians, having developed a special branch, the 
"Comit^ d'iltudes du Haut Congo," sends out Mr 
Stanley to found what becomes later on the " Congo 

Free State" 1879 

De Brazza secures part of the Upper Congo for France . 1880 
The Transvaal revolts against Great Britain and secures 
recognition of its independence under British suze- 
rainty 1881 



»-9i«m 



Appendix /. 297 

A.D. 

French force enters Tunis and imposes French protection 

on that country 1881 

French conquests reach the Upper Niger . . 1881-82 

Arabics revolt in Egypt (1881), abolition of Dual Control, 
bombardment of Alexandria and defeat of Arabi at 
Tel-el- Kebir by Lord Wolseley ; British occupation of 
Egypt begins . . . ... . . . 1882 

Italy occupies Assab Bay on Red Sea coast and commences 

creation of colony of Eritrea 1882 

Occupation of Obok by France 1883 

The commencement of the African Scramble : — Germany 
establishes her protectorate over South-West Africa, 
and over Togoland and the Cameroon s in West Africa ; 
France occupies Grand Bassam and Porto Novo (Gold 
and Slave Coasts) ; Gordon is despatched to the 
Sudan (which revolted from Egypt in 1883); and 
the Berlin Conference on African questions is sum- 
moned 1884 

Death of General Gordon at Khartum and temporary loss 

of Egyptian Sudan . . . . . . 1885 

Recognition by all the powers of Congo Free State . . 1885 

Bechuana-land taken under British protection . . . 1885 

Germany founds her East African possessions in the in- 
terior of the Zanzibar Sultanate 1885 

Great Britain declares protectorate over Niger Coast and 
river Niger and grants Charter to Royal Niger Com- 
pany: Joseph Thomson makes a Treaty for latter 
Company with the Sultan of Sokoto . . .1885 

Portugal extends her territory to the south bank of the 

Congo and to Kabinda 1884-85 

France concludes treaty with Madagascar which gives her 
predominant influence over that island (protectorate 
over Comoro Islands 1886) 1885 

The Anglo-Egyptian forces sustain severe defeats near 
Suakim at the hands of the Sudanese under Osman 
Digna: Suakim is retained but Egyptian rule in the 
Nile valley is restricted to Wady Haifa. Italy occupies 
Masawa I885 



298 Appendix L 

A.D. 

Great discoveries of reef gold in the Transvaal ; founding 

of Johannesburg 1886 

War breaks out in N. Nyasaland between British settlers 

and Arab slave traders . . . . . 1887 

In Oil rivers (Niger Delta) Jaja, King of Opobo, is arrested 
and banished ; access to interior markets is then ob- 
tained 1887 

French Senegambian possessions definitely extended to the 

Upper Niger 1887 

Imperial British East Africa Company receives Charter . 1888 

Serious rebellion against the Germans breaks out in East 

Africa (is not finally subdued till 1890) . . 1888 

British protectorate over N. Somaliland finally organised . 1889 

Italian protectorate established over East Somaliland: 
and treaty concluded with Menelek of Ethiopia by 
which Italy claimed to control foreign relations of 
Abyssinia ......... 1889 

Charter given to British South African Company . . 1889 

British Central Africa declared to be under British pro- 
tection : British flag hoisted on Lakes Tanganyika and 
Nyasa 1889 

In 1887 Stanley conducts an expedition by way of the 
Congo to relieve Emin Pasha. He discovers the Albert 
Edward Lake and Ruwenzori Mountain and reaches 
Zanzibar 1889 

Anglo-German Agreement concluded relative to East 
Africa : Zanzibar taken under British protection; Great 
Britain recognizes French protectorate over Mada- 
gascar and French Sphere of Influence between 
Algeria,, the Niger, and Lake Chad, and France 
recognizes the British Control over Sokoto and the 
Lower Niger 1890 

French expeditions reach the river Shari from the Congo 

Basin and secure that river to French influence . 1890-91 

Captain (now Colonel) Lugard establishes British pre- 
dominance over Uganda 1891 

Natal receives responsible government .... 1893 

France conquers and annexes Dahome .... 1893 



Appendix I, 299 

A.D. 

First Matabele war: death of Lobengula: Buluwayo be- 
comes the capital of Rhodesia 1893 

French occupy Timbuktu 1894 

Uganda declared a British protectorate : Charter of British 
East Africa Company withdrawn and British East 
Africa henceforth administered under British Com- 
missioner 1S94-5 

Arabs defeated and driven out of British Central African 

protectorate 1895 

Major Mouzinho de Albuquerque captures the Zulu king 
Gungunyana and firmly establishes Portuguese do- 
minion in South-East Africa . 1895 
France conquers and annexes Madagascar 1894-96 
Jameson raid into Transvaal : Matabele revolt and second 

Matabele war 1896 

Italy sustains terrible defeat in North Abyssinia. Her pro- 
tectorate over Abyssinia withdrawn and that country's 

independence recognized 1896 

Anglo-Egyptian army reconquers Dongola 1896 

Conquest of Nupe by the Royal Niger Company 1897 

Zululand incorporated with Natal 1897 

Railway completed to Buluwayo 1897 

Revolt of Sudanese soldiers temporarily imperils British 

position in Uganda 1897-98 

Anglo-French agreement signed with regard to Niger . 1898 
Anglo-German agreement relative to Delagoa Bay and 

other Portuguese possessions in Africa signed in 1898 

Railway opened from Lower Congo to Stanley pool . . 1898 
Khartum captured by Sir H. (now Lord) Kitchener and 

Anglo-Egyptian influence established over the Sudan . 1898 
Major Marchand, who is sent to Fashoda by French 

Government, is withdrawn thence on British protests 1898 



APPENDIX IL 

BIBLIOGRAPHY OF THE HISTORY OF COLONIZATION 
OF AFRICA. BOOKS SPECIALLY USEFUL. 

All Blue books published by Foreign Office and Colonial Office 

DEALING WITH AFRICA and the Slave Trade from 1830 to 

the present day — especially for the years between 1876 and 

1898. 

The Partition of Africa; by (Dr) J. Scott Keltic. 2nd Edition. 

Edward Stanford. 1895. 
The Story of Africa; by Dr Robert Brown. 4 vols. 

Cassell and Company. 1894-5. 

(A most valuable book of reference.) 

Historical Geography of the British Colonies. Vol. iv. 

Parts I & 2 (dealing with South and East Africa) ; by C. P. 

Lucas, B.A. Clarendon Press. 1897. 

Do. Do. Vol. iiL West Africa. Clarendon Press. 1894. 

History of South Africa; by G. M«Call Theal. 5 vols. 

Juta & Co., Cape Town. 1888-93. 

Histoire de l'Afrique Septentrionale (Berberie) ; par Ernest 

Mercier. 3 vols. Paris : Ernest Leroux. 1891. 

(An excellent and trustworthy compilation.) 

Histoire de l'^tablissement des Arabes dans l'Afrique 

Septentrionale selon les auteurs Arabes. By the same 

author, i vol. Paris: Challamel. 1875. 

HiSTORiA da Africa Oriental Portugueza; por Jos^ Joaquim 

Lopes de Lima. Lisbon. 1862. 

History of the Kingdom of Congo; by Duarte Lopes — 

rendered into Italian by Filippo Pigafetta. 

English translation : John Murray. 1881. 
Angola and the River Congo; by J. J. Monteiro. 2 vols. 

Macmillan & Co. 1875. 



Appendix II, 301 

The Lands of Cazembe (Lacerda's journey to Cazembe in 1798); 
a compilation by Captain R. F. Burton. 

Royal Geographical Society. 1873. 

The Maps of Africa by Treaty; by Sir Edward Hertslet, 

K.C.B. 2 vols. Harrison & Sons. 1894-5. 

A History of Ancient Geography; by (Sir) E. H. Bunbury. 

2 vols. 2nd edition. John Murray. 1883. 

Colonial Office List; by W. H. Mercer and A. E. Collins. 

Harrison & Sons. 1898. 
Documents sur l'Histoire, etc., de l'Afrique Orientale; 
par le Capitaine M. Guillain. 3 vols. Paris. 1856. 

Life of Prince Henry the Navigator ; by R. H. Major. 

Sampson Low. 1876. 
Prince Henry the Navigator ; by Beazley. 

Putnam. 1895. 
Egypt in the Nineteenth Century; by D. A. Cameron. 

Smith, Elder & Co. 1898. 
England in Egypt ; by Sir Alfred Milner, K.C.B. — -- _ - 

Arnold. 1892. 
The Barbary Corsairs (Story of the Nations); by Stanley 
Lane Poole. T. Fisher Unwin. 1890. 

The Life of Livingstone; by H. H. Johnston, C.B. 

George Philip. 1891. 
Du Niger au Golfe de Guin^e; par le Capitaine Binger. 

Paris. 1892. 
MUNGO Park and the Niger; by Joseph Thomson. 

George Philips. 1890. 

How I found Livingstone. Through the Dark Continent. 

2 vols. The Congo: and the founding of its Free 

State. 2 vols. In Darkest Africa. 2 vols. By H. M. 

Stanley. (Most important.) Sampson Low. 

The Statesman's Year-book ; by Dr J. Scott Keltic. 

Macmillan. 
TiMBUCTOO THE MYSTERIOUS ; by F^ix Dubois. 

William Heinemann. 1897. 
The Fall of the Congo Arabs; by Captain S. L. Hinde. — 

Methuen. 1897. 
British Central Africa; by Sir H. H. Johnston, K.C.B. ^ 

Methuen. 1897. 



302 Appendix II, 

Rise of our East African Empire; by Captain F. D. 
Lugard, D.S.O. 2 vols. Blackwood, Edinburgh. 1893. 

British East Africa ; By P. M«Dcrmott. 

Chapman & Hall. 1895. 
English Mission to Abyssinia; by (Sir) Gerald H. Portal. 

Winchester (privately printed). 1888. 
Travels of the Jesuits in Ethiopia; by B. Tellez. 

London. 171a 
Savage Africa ; by Win wood Reade. Smith & Elder. 1864. 
African Sketch-Book ; same author and publishers. 1873. 

Martyrdom of Man ; same author. 

Kegan Paul. (Ed. 13) 1890. 
Adventures in Nyassaland ; by Low Monteith Fotheringham. 

Sampson Low. 1891. 
Uganda and the Egyptian Sudan ; by Dr R. W. Felkin and 
C. T. Wilson. 2 vols. Sampson Low. 1882. 

The Heart of Africa; by Dr Georg Schweinfiirth. 

Sampson Low. 1873. 
Travels and Discoveries in North and Central Africa ; 
by Dr Henry Barth. 5 vols. 

Longman, Brown, Green. 1857. 
Fire and Sword in the Sudan ; by Slatin Pasha. 

Edward Arnold. 1896. 
Hausaland; by Rev. Charles Henry Robinson. 

Sampson Low. 1897. 

A TR avers L'AfRIQUE CENTRALE : DU CONGO AU NiGER ; by 

C. Maistre. Paris. 1895. 

The Early Chartered Companies; by George Cawston and 
A. H. Keane. Edward Arnold. 1896. 

Madagascar ; by Captain S. Pasfield Oliver. 2 vols. 

Macmillan. 1886. 
Impressions OF South Africa; by Rt Hon. James Bryce, M.P. 

f Macmillan. 1898. 



INDEX. 



Abbadie, d\ 208 
Abd-al-Kader, 135 
Abd-al-Mumin, 19 
Abreu, Gomez d*, 262 
Abyssinia, 2, 3, 32, 148, 149, 159, 

193* i95» 'ioSj 210, 219, 236, 245 

ef seq.y 277, 278 
Abyssinian explorers, 208 
Accra, 109, no 
Afores Islands, 39 
Acunha, Tristad d' (conquistador), 

31 
Island, 45, 173 

Aden, 145, 237 

Adis Abeba, 247 

Adrar, 212 

Adua, 247 

Aepyomis, 262 

"Africa" (the Roman province of), 
II 

Africa, direction from which man 
first invaded, i ; ethnology of, 2 ; 
distribution of native population 
3000 years ago, 3 ; origin of name 
of, 11; owes its principal food 
products to Arabs and Portu- 
guese, 38, 39; "New Africa," 
282 

African Association, 196, 197, 209 
— Lakes Company, 153, 181, 
187 

Aghlab, Aghlabite dynasty, 16 

Ahmadu, the Fula King, 127, 128 

Albert Nyanza, see Nyanza 

Alexander the Great, 10 

Alexander, Sir J. E., 199 



Alexandria, 10, 133, 191, 231, 233, 

Algarve, 27 

Algeria, 20, 24, 134 etseq., 138, 212, 

278 
Algiers, 61 ^ seq,, 134, ij.4 
Almeida, Francisco de, 202 
Almoravide, Almohade, see Marabut 

and Muahedim 
Alsace-Lorraine settlers in Algeria, 

137 
Alula, Ras, 246 

Amalfi, 243 

Amaro, Jose, 199 

Amatongaland, 184, 186 

Ambas Bay, 115, 158 

Ambriz, 42 

America, 96, 150 

American Missionaries, 156, 159 

— slave-trade, 93 

Amhara, 246 

Amr-bin-al Asi (conqueror of Egypt), 

14 
Andersson, 208, 218 

Anglo-German Convention of 1890, 

257: of 1898, 287 
Angoche, 59 
Angola, isetseo,, 42, 43, 150, 156, 

193, 209, 210, 218, 282 
Angra, Pequena, 45, 252 
Anhaya, Pedro de, 31 
Anno Bom Island, 64 
Antananarivo, 270, 271, 273, 275 
Antonelli, 219 
Arabi, Ahmed, 231, 232 
Arabia, i, 17, 217, 237 



304 



Index. 



Arabic language, 17, 138, 283 

Arabs, 13; (invade Egypt and Tripoli 
and Tunis), 14 ; {reach Atlantic 
Ocean and conquer Morocco and 
Spain), 15, 16 ; (great invasion of 
North Africa), 17 ; (settle on East 
coast of Africa), 24, 25; (their rule 
superseded in N. Africa by Turks), 
24 ; Arab influence and civilisation 
in Muhammadan Africa, 25, 26; 
introduce various domestic ani- 
mals and food products into 
Africa, 39; Arabs and Portu- 
guese, 45, 46; Arabs on Zam- 
bezi, 47; regain Zanzibar coast, 
50, 237 ; as Slave Traders, 95, 
100; of Algeria find a leader in 
Abd-al-Kader, 135 ; in Nyasa- 
land, 182 ; on the Congo, 226 ; 
at Zanzibar, 242 ; and Germans, 
257 ; and Madagascar, 261 et se^,; 
future of Arabs in Africa, 280 

Archinard, Col., 128, 130 

Arguin, 30, 66, 125, 249 

Arnot, F. S., 220 

Ascension Island, 45 

Ashanti, 109 ^/ s€^. 

Asia, the mother of man, i ; fur- 
nishes many domestic animals 
and plants to Africa, 39 ; without 
race feeling against Europe, 284 

Asmara, 246 

Assab Bay, 242, 243 

Atlantic Ocean reached by Arabs, 

Atlas Mountains, 136, 221 
"Atrocities," 227, 258 
Aures Moimtains, 280 
Austrian attempt on Delagoa Bay, 

56 
— Catholic Mission on Nile, 210 
Author. His experience of slave 
traffic, 95; administers Ambas 
Bay, 115; removes Jaja, 116; 
administers British Central Africa, 
182, 187; with Dr Cross dis- 
covers south end of Lake Rukwa, 
219; other African explorations, 
220; and Kilimanjaro, 238, 255 ; 
and "Cape to Cairo," 242 



Bab-el-Mandeb, Straits of, 243 
Baboons, 10 
Badagri, 203 
Bagirmi, 144, 214, 278 
Bahr-al-Ghazal, 144, 210, 215, 216, 

228, 286 
Baikie, Dr, 117 
Baines, William, 218 
Baker, Sir Samuel and Lady, 207, 

210, 211, 214, 217 
Bamaku, 127, 197 
Bambuk, 125, 196 
Banana (tree), 40 
Bangweolo, Lake, 212, 220, 222 
Banks, Sir Joseph, 196 
Bantu Border-line, 144, 221 
— negroes, 3, 65, 76, 77, 161, 259 

migrations of, 4, 76, loi 

Baptist Mission (Cameroons and 

Congo), 115 
Baptista, 199 
Baratieri, General, 247 
Barbarossas, the, 61 
Barbary States, 61, 104; see a/so 

Algeria, Tunis, Tripoli 
Bari people, 151, 217 
Baringo, Lake, 221, 223 
Barka, 8, 15, 206, 278 
Barreto, Francisco, 47, 193 
Barth, Dr Henry, 206, 207 
Barutse, 154, 182, 216 
"Bastards," the, 82 
Bastian, Dr, 213 

Basuto, Basutoland, 85, 155, 169 
Bathurst, 105 
Batoka country, 147, 152 
Battel, Andrew, 193, 194 
Baumann, Dr, 222 
Beaufort, de, 201 
Bechuana, Bechuanaland, 85, 87, 

154, 161, 186, 259, 280 
Beecroft, Mr, 205 
Behauzin, 130 
Beira, 46, 59, 60, 188 
Beke, C. T., 208 
Belgian Africa, 225 et seq. 
Belgians, King of the, 143-4, *i8, 

219, 225 «/ seq,, 250 
Belgium, Belgians, 100, 218, 219, 227 
Beltrama, Giovanni, 210 



■Bfia 



Index. 



305 



Bembatoka Bay, 266 

Benguela, 41, 193, 213 

Benin, 103, 113, 116, 118, 286, 287 

Bentley, Reverend H., 158 

Benue, R., 115, 117, 119, 204 

Benyowski, 264 

Berber states and dynasties, 24 

Berbers, 5, 7, 8, 12, 13, 15, 19, 33, 

136, 280 
Berlin Conference, 143, 227 
Beurmann, M. v., 214 
Bey of Constantine, 136 
Beys of Tunis, 139 
Bights of Biafra and Benin, 114, 

203* 205 
Binger, Captain, 128, 129, 222 
Bisandugu, 128 
Bishops (Christian), see Christian; 

Negro do., 33, 34, 149 
Bizerta (Hippo-Zaryt), 5 
"Black Africa," 280, 281 
" Black* White, and YeUow," 177 
Blanco, Cape, 29, 64, 105, 125, 249 
Blantyre, 156 

Bloemfontein Convention, 84 
Boc^rro, Jasper, 193 
Boer victories, 86 
Boers, the, 43, 81 ^/ seq,<, 163; (in 

ijfatal), 166, 167 
Bohm, 218 

Boisragon, Capt., 287 
Boiteux, Lieut., 131 
Bojador, Cape, 29, 64 
Boma, 229 

Bona, Bone, 61, 137, 243 
Bonnier, Col., 131, 285 
Bonny, R., 118 
Borelli, H., 223 
Borgu (Nikki), 132 
Bornu, 12, 24, 201, 206, 213, 214 
Bottego, 223 

Bourbon, Island of, 264, 266 
Brandenbui^ in Africa, 249 

— Great Elector of, 249 
Brass, R., 118, 204 
Brati^res, Serg., 286 
Brava (Barawa), 46 
Brazil, Brazilians, 39, 43, 50, 193, 282 
Brazza, De, 143, 219, 225 
Bricchetti-Robecchi, 223 



British Element in Cape Colony, 
162 

— Empire of the Future, 281 

— Central Africa, 99, icx>, 156, 
158, 182, 183, 280, 281 

— East Africa, 95, 239 et seq,, 
242 

Company, 239, 242 

— Government, the, 53; takes 
over Dutch Gold Coast, 67 ; 
covets the Cape of Good Hope, 
75 ; takes this colony finally in 
1806, 79; shilly-shallies about 
South African questions, 83, 84; 
pays an indemnity to Orange 
Free State, 85 ; annexes Trans- 
vaal, 86; restores its indepen- 
dence, 87 ; spends millions of 
pounds in abolishing slavery, 97 ; 
and establishes squadrons of slave- 
trade preventive ships, 98, 100; 
administers Fernando Po, 114; 
sends expeditions to Niger, 116, 
117; to Western Sudan and 
Tripoli, 121 ; holds Sen^;al for a 
time, 125; attitude in Tunis, 140; 
acquires Cape Colony, 160 ; re- 
luctantly makes Natal a British 
Colony, 167-8; tries to send 
convicts to the Cape, 169; an- 
nexes the Transvaal, 184; sends 
Mungo Park back to the Niger, 
197 ; and various expeditions 
thither from Tripoli (201, 202), 
and finally sends Lander to dis- 
cover its mouth, 203 ; despatches 
Richardson, Barth and others to 
explore the Central Sudan, 205, 
200; sends surveying expedition 
up Niger (1841), 205; commis- 
sions Livingstone to explore Zam- 
bezia, 211; occupies Egypt, 232 
et seq,\ Zanzibar coast, 237 et 
seq, 

— South Africa, 160 et seq, 
(area, 161) 

— South Africa Chartered Co., 
59, 89, 182 

Brown, Dr Robert, 93, 125 
Browne, William G., 195 



J. A. 



20 



3o6 



Index. 



Bruce, James, 195 

Briie, 124, 194 

Bu Amama, 138 

Bugeaud, Marshal, 135 

Bugia, 61 

••Bula Matadi," 34 

Buluwayo, 177, 188 

Bunbury, Sir £. H., 8 

Bunyoro, 211, 241 

Burchell, Dr William, 199 

Burton, Sir Richard F., 207, 209, 

215 
Busa, 116, 119, 198, 203 

Bushiri, 257 

Bushmen, 2, 4, 5, 68, 161 

Buxton, Sir Thomas Fowell, 205 

Byzantium, Byzantine Greeks, 10, 

I*. I3» I4» 92 

Caillie, Ren^, 126, 201 

Cairo, 16, 233 

Calabar, su Old 

Cam, Diogo, 30, 33 

Cambon, M., 141 

Cambyses, 10, 190 

Camel, the, 39, 48, 243 

Cameron, Capt. V. L., 213, 216, 218 

Camcroons, 113, 115, 156, 158, 215, 
222, 254, 258 

Campagnon, 124, 194 

Campbell (Scotch missionary ex- 
plorer), 199 

Canada, 107 

Canary Islands, 33, 63, 121 

Candido de Costa Cardoso, 199 

Cannibalism, 227 

Cape of Good Hope, 30, 46, 67 

— Colony, 68, 74, 75, 82, 108, 
161, 170, 251, 280 

— Dutch, 89 

— Town, 72, 76 

— Verde, 29, 127 
Islands, 39, 45, 75 

"Cape to Cairo," 183, 242 
Capello, Brito, 216 
Carnarvon, Lord, 183, 184 
Carthage, 4, 5, 11, 15, 20 
Carthaginians, 8 
Casamanse, River, 127 
Cat, the domestic, 39 



Cathcart, General, 168 

Cattle, 161 

Cavendish, Mr H., 223 

Ceme, see Kerne 

Cetewayo, 185 

Ceuta, 15, 21, 22, 28, 63 

Chad, Lake, 17, 115, 119, 121, 

127, 142, 192, 202, 206, 214 
Chafarinas Islands, 63 
Chains- Long, Col., 217 
Chaillu, Paul du, 142, 215 
Chaka, 83, 166, 184 
Chanler, W. Astor, 223 
Charles II of England, 109, 195 

— V of Spain, 02, 93 

— X of France, 134, 266 
Chartered companies, 104 
Chatelain, Rev. Heli, 156 
Chelmsford, Lord, 185 
Chimpanzee, the, 7 
Chinde, R., 59 

Chobe, R., 259 

Christian Bishops in Tunisia, 20; 

in Central Africa, 33, 218, 240; 

Madagascar, 153, 268 
Christian Missions in Africa, list of: 

American Presbyterian Mission, 

i55» 156 

Austrian Catholic Mission (Su- 
dan), 150, 210 

Baptist (American) Gaboon Mis- 
sion, 156 

— (English) Cameroons and 
Congo Mission, 157, 158 

— (Scotch) Nyasaland Mission, 

158 

Basel Mission, 154 

Bavarian (Roman Catholic) Mis- 
sion, 154 

Berlin Missionary Society, 154 

Church Missionary Society, 149, 
207, 218, 240 

Edinburgh Missionary Society, 
148 

Episcopal Methodist (American) 
Mission, 156 

Established Church of Scotland 
Mission, 155, 156 

Free Church Mission (Scotch), 



Index. 



307 



Christian Missions (cont.y. 

Free Swiss Church Mission, 155 
French Evangelical Missionary 

Society, 154, 155 
Glasgow Missionary Society, 148 
Jesuit missions (Zambezi), 151 ; 

(Madagascar), 153 
London Missionary Society, 148, 

i53» «67 
Moravian Protestant Mission, 

154 
North African Mission, 158 

North German (Bremen) Mis- 
sion, 152 
Norwegian Mission, 156 
Plymouth Brethren, 158 
Rhenish Missionary Society, 154 
Society for the Propagation of 

the Gospel, 150 
Society of Frienck' (Quaker) Mis- 
sion, 153 
Swedish Protestant Mission, 155 
United Presbyterian Mission, 

155 
Universities' Mission, 157, 181 

Wesleyan Methodist Missionary 

Society, 150 
White Fathers of the Sudan 

Mission, 151; (in Uganda), 

Zambezi Industrial Mission, 150 
Christianity (in Congo Kingdom), 

33» 146) 147; among negro races 

in general, 147, 283 
Christians in North Africa, 20; 

Madagascar, Uganda, 239, 240 
Cinchona tree (Quinine), 43 
Clapperton, Hugh, 202, 203 
Clarke, John (missionary), 158 
Clarke, Sir Marshall, 186 
Clarkson, 94 
Cocoa-nut palm, 40, 55 
Coffee and coffee cultivation, 40, 

43. 55, 175, 183 
Coillard, Rev. Mr, 155, 216 

Colonies, French, in Africa, their 
lack of self-support, 145 
— three classes of, in Africa, 278, 
279 

Colston, Col., 217 



Comber, Rev. Thos., 158 

" Comite d'Etudes du Haut Congo," 

225 
Commerson, Philibert, 264 
Comoro Islands, 4, 11, 25, 265, 

^69, 275 
Compi^gne, Mar(;[uis de, 215 
Conference, Berlin, 117 

— Brussels, 218 

Congo Christianity, 33 et seq,^ 147 

— Free State, 100, 143, 219, 225, 
226 et seq.^ 249, 250 

— Kingdom, 33, 34, 147; Royal 
family of, 34, 35 

— river and basin, 3, 4, 30, 94, 
100, 117, 156, 158, 200, 213, 
219, 226, 280 

— Treaty of 1884, 36, 44, 181, 
226 

— French, see French Congo 

** Conquistadores," Portuguese, 38 

Constantine, 136 

Constitution granted to Cape Co- 
lony, 163 

Conventions, see under title of na- 
tionality or place 

Convicts sent to Cape, 169 

Coolies, 176, 189 

Coomassie, see Kumasi 

Copper, 55, 251 

Corisco Bay, 64 

Corsairs, see Pirates 

Cossack " Monks," 247 

Covilhad, Pero de, 31, 32, 193, 262 

Craig, General, 79 

Crampel, Paul, 144 

Crimean War, 170, 171, 232 

Cromer, Lord, 233 

Cross, Dr, 219, 220 

— River, 205 

Crowther, Samuel (Bishop), 149 
Cyrene, Cyrenaica, 8, 10, n, 191, 
206, 208 

Dahome, 44, 109, 112, 129, 130, 

215 
Daily Telegraph, the, 216 
Damaraland, 154, 179, 206, 251 
Danakil coast, 245 
Danes, see Denmark 



20 — 2 



308 



Index, 



Darfur, 34, 195, 213, 114, 217, 218, 

Date, the, 9 

Dauphin, Fort, 263, 264 

Davidson, John, 205 

De Beers Diamond -mining Com- 
pany, 187 

Debono, Andrea, 110 

Decken, Baron von der, 110, 250 

Decle, Lionel, 122 

Delagoa Bay, 51, 56 et seq.^ 75, 
178, 200, 287 

Delgado, Cape, 51, 55, 58, 255 

Denham, Major D., 202 

Denhardt Brothers, 255 

Denmark abolishes slave-trade, 96; 
withdraws from^Gold Coast, no 

Desbordes, Col., 127 

Dey of Algiers, 134 

Dhanis, Baron, 227, 228 

Diamonds, Diamond Fields, 85, 

173. 177. 178* 186 
Diaz, Bartolomeu, 30, 68 
— Paulo, 37 
Dickens and "Mrs Jellyby," 205 
Diego Suarez Bay, 267, 268, 274 
Dieppe adventurers, 122, 123 
Dingane, 185 
Dingiswayo, 83 
Dinizulu, 186 
Dochard, Dr, 198 
Dodds, General, 130 
Dog, the, 39 
Domestic animals and plants of 

Africa, 39, 40 
Donaldson Smith, Dr, 223 
"Downing Street" doubts, drifts, 

and dallies, 84, 112, 179, 180 
Draa, River, 7, 121, 192, 196 
Drummond Hay, Sir John, 121 
Dual Control, the, 232, 233 
Duala people, 158 
Duck, the, 39 
Durban, 83, 167 

D'Urban, Sir Benjamin, 164 et seq. 
Dutch, the, 41, 42, 45, 51, 55; on 

the Gold Coast, 66^ 67, no; 

take St Helena and found Cape 

Colony, 67, 68 et seq,; lose Cape 

Colony, 1806, 79; cede it to 



England, 80; Dutch Africa still 
existing, 80; affinity between 
Dutch and Scotch, 81; in the 
Transvaal, 88; kinship in blood 
with English, 90, 125; dispute 
St Helena with English, 172 
Dutch half-castes, 67 

— language, 282 
Duveyrier, 212 
Dybowski, M., 144, 222 

East Africa, see British, German, 

etc. 
East India Company, British, 237 

Dutch, 68 etseq,i 70, 77, 160 

Austrian, f 6 

French, 263, 264 

Extern Province of Cape Colony, 

166, 172, 177 
Egypt, 2, 9, 10, 17, 49, 121, 133, 
134, 231 et seq,, 235, 277, 278, 
280 
Egyptian Government, 211,217, 235 
Egyptians, Ancient, 2, 191, 281 

— Modem, 281 
Elephant, African, 6, 8, 55 
Elizabeth, Queen, 105, 100 

I Elli^ Mr (of Madagascar), 270, 271 
•4 Elmina, 30, 66 

Elphinstone, Admiral, 79 
Elton, Captain Fred., 217 
Emden, 249 

Emin Pasha, 220, 221, 241 
England and the Slave Trade, 146 

— Missionary efforts, 146 
English introduce domestic animals 

and plants into Africa, 40; in 
the Transvaal, 88 ; follow Portu- 
guese lead in the West African 
trade, 103 

— language, 158, 163, «82, 
283 

Ericsson, 218 

Eritrea (Italy's Red Sea Colony)^ 

i45» 247 
Ethiopia, 191 

Euan-Smith, Sir Charles, 256 

Eunuchs, Negro, 92, 95 

European population of Cape 

Colony in 1806, 161 



Index. 



309 



Boropean population of Cape Colony 
^ in 1850, 109 
Exeter Hall, 8a 
Explorers, Great, i^etseq, 

— thirteen greatest, list of, 207 

— Africa will recognize the debt 
she owes to, 224 

Faidherbe, General, 126, 141 
Farewell and King, Lieuts., 1 66 
Farquhar, Sir Robert, 188, 267 
Fashoda, 235, 286 
Fatimite Khalifs, 16 
Federation of South Africa, 183 
Felkin, Dr R. W., 218 
Fernandez, Joa5, 193 
Fernando Po, Island, 64, 65, 114, 

150, 158, 202, 204, 222 
Fezzan (Phazania), 11, 14, 24, 196, 

201, 213, 214 
Flanders in Africa, 56, 230 
Flatters, Col., 141 
Flegel, Herr, 118 
Flemish Colonists, 38 
Foreign Office, 116, 239, 251, 255 
Foule Point, 264, 268 
France and Abyssinia, 247 
Frederick William I, 249 
French Congo, 106, 142, 219 

— Government, the (France), 
55 > (West African boundaries in 
dispute with Spain), 64, 65 ; at 
Mauritius, 69 ; abolishes slave 
trade, 98 ; contend with English 
on the Gambia, 105 ; establish 
Protectorate over Porto Novo 
and Dahome, 112, 1 13 ; a French 
Company established on Lower 
Niger, 117 ; disputes as to 
Nigerian boundaries finally settled 
with England, 119; French in N. 
and W. Africa, 122 ^/ j^^. ; reach 
the Niger, 127; occupy Tim- 
buktu, 131 ; conquers Algiers, 
134 ; its treatment of Abd-al- 
Kader, 135 ; France and Egypt, 
134, 232 ; France and Tunis, 139- 
141 ; in Gaboon, 142 ; on Congo, 
142-144 ; right of preemption 
over Congo Free State, 144; in 



Somaliland, 145, 236 ; in Mada- 
gascar, 259 a seq, 
French language, 282, 283 

— Revolution and its effects on 
Dutch settlers in Cape Colony, 78 

— Revolution and Egypt, 133 

— settlers in Dutch South .A^ca, 

7i» 7«. 88 

— settlers in Algeria, 137 
Frere, Sir Bartle, 184, 237, 251 
Frey, Col., 127 

Froude, Mr, 183 

Fula race and Empire, 118, lao, 

126, 127, 128, 203 
Futa Toro, Futa-Jsdon, 128 

Gaboon, 45, 142, 143, 156 

Galiber, Admiral, 274 

Gallas, Gallaland, 151, 155, 248 

Galli^ne, Col., 127 

Galton, Mr Francis, 208 

Gambetta, 117, 232 

Gambia, R., 29, 104 et seq,, 108, 

124, 194, 190 et seq. 
Gamitto, 199 

Gardener, Capt. Allen, 167 
Genoa, 243 
Gentil, M., 144 
German Government, 114, 115, 

119, 158, 179, 180, 213, 214, 

249 et seq. 

— East Africa, 157, 2^$etseq* 

— South- West Africa, 180, 251, 

n9: ?79 

— missionaries, 154, 251, 259 

Germans, 55, 100, 118, 119, 171, 

i75» «'5» H9^^^^' 
Gessi Pasha, 211, 217 

Ghadames, 200, 213 

Gibraltar, 16 

Ginga Bandi, Queen, 41 

Ginger, 39, 40 

Giraffe, the, 73, 198 

Giraud, Lieut., 220 

Gladstone, Mr, 185, 242, 274 

Glenelg, Lord, 165, 167 

Glover, Sir John, iii 

Goa, 49, 50; Goanese, 55, 176, 199 

Goetzen, Count, 223 

Gold, 30, 47, 49, 88 



3IO 



Index, 



Gold Coast, 30, 66 et seq.^ 104, 
108, 109 et seq.^ 133, 129, 254 

(roldie, Taubman, Sir George, 117, 
118, 120, 132 
, Goldsmid, Sir Frederick, 226 

Golea, 141 

Goletta, 21, 61, 62, 63, 140 

Gon9alo de Silveira, 48, 148 

Gondokoro, 210, 211 

Gordon, General, 217, 233 

— Capt. R. J., 198 
Goree, 66^ 125, 197 
Gorilla, the, 7, 65, 142, 215 
Graaf Reinet, 74 

Grand Bassam, 106, 129 
Grandy, Lieut., 212 
Grant, Col. J. A., 207, 209 
Granville Sharp, 94, 107 
Granville, Lord, 181, 251, 252, 

273 
Great Fish River, 74, 161, 162 

Greece, 8 

Greeks, 8 et seg.^ 191 

Gr^ory, Dr J. W., 223 

— the Patrician, 14 

Grenfell, Rev. Mr, 143, 158, 215, 

219 
Grey, Sir George, 84, 170, 171, 

Grikwaland East, 168 
Grikwas, Grikwaland, 85, 173, 174 
Grossfriederichsburg, 249 
Ground-rents {Arachis) 55 
Guardafui, Cape, 248 
Gungunyama, 59 

Hadj *Omar, El, 126 
Hafs dynasty of Tunis, 20, 62 
Hamadi dynasty of Tunis, 20 
Hamilton, Mr James, 208 
Hamite race, 2, 281 
Hannibal, 6 

Hannington, Bishop, 239 
Hanno's voyage, 5, 7, 107, 190 
Hanse towns (Hamburgh), 206, 

250 
Harrar, 223, 236 
Harris, Sir W. C, 199, 208 
Hassan-bin-Numan, 15 
Hausa, the, in, 120, 226; land, 



24, 99, 120, 198, 202, 206; 

language, 282, 283 
Hawkins, Sir John, 93 
Hecataeus, 10 
Helena, St, Id. of, 33, 39, 45, 

67, ($9, 172, 173, 186 
Henderson, Lieut., 285 
Hennessy, Sir J. Pope, 188 
Henry the Navigator, Prince, 21, 

28, 29, 103 
Herero, Ova-, the, 161, 259 
Herodotus, 9, 10, 191 
Heuglin, 211 
Hewett, Mr E. H., 114, 115, 253, 

Hicks Pasha, 233 

High Commissioner of South 

Africa, 89, 174 
Hinde, Capt. S. L., 227 
Hintsa, Chief, 165 
Hippo, 5 
Hippopotamus, 47 
Holland, see Dutch ; also 167 
Holub, Dr, 220 
Homemann, Fred., 196 
Horse, the, 39 
Hottentots, 2, 5, 43, 68 et seq,y 

79, 82, 161, 163, 2«2, 259 
Houghton, Major, 196 
Hourst, Lieut., 132 
Hovas, the, 12, 153, 265, 266^/ seq. 
Huguenots, 72, 148 
Hiihnel, Lieut., 221 
Husseinite Beys of Tunis, 139 
Hutton, Mr James, 255 

Iberian race, 2 

Ibn Batuta, 192 

Ibn Haukal, 192 

Ibn Tumest, 19 

Ibn Yasin, 19 

Ibo, 55 

Ibos, die, 204 

Idris, 16 

Idris or Edrisi (geographer), 192 

Ikopa, R. (Madagascar), 275 

Ilo, 132 

Imam of Maskat, 25, 50 

India, i, 31, 39,49, 92, 231, 233, 

235, 279 



■■ 



Index. 



311 



Indians in Africa, 50 ; in Natal, 

176, 177; Mauritius, 189, 262, 281 
Inhambane, 59 
Irish settlers, 162, 229 
— missionaries, 152, 241 
Islam (Muhammadanism), 15, 16, 

24, 147, 283 
Islands in Indian Ocean belonging 

to British, 189 
Italian language, 282 
Italians, Italy, 18, 137, 139, 140, 

151, 211, 213, 243 et seq, 
Ivens, Roberto, 216 
Ivory, 55 

— Coast, 128, 129, 130 

Jacquin, Capt., 286 
Jagga, the, 35, 193 
Jaja, King, 116 
Jamaica, 93, 07, 107 
James Bros, (explorers), 223 
Jameson, Dr, 89, 188 

Jannequin de Rochefort, 123, 194 
anssens, Governor, 79, 161 
}ean Ren^, 268 
enne, 130, 193 
Jerba, Id. of, 9, 14, 21, 62, 63 
Jesuits, 32, 36, 48, 147, 152, 193, 

271 
Jews, the, 16, 88, 137, 178, 207 

{obson, Richard, 194 
ohannesburg, 88, 89 
John, of Abyssinia, King, 246, 247 
Johnston, H. H., see Author 

— Keith, 219 

Johnstone, Commodore, 75; John- 
stone, Commander, 273, 274 
JoufTre, Col., 131 
Jub, River, 248, 250 
Juby, Cape, 64, 121 
Judaism amongst Berbers, 8 
Jiihlke, Dr, 254 
Julian, Count, 15 
JUnker, Dr Wilhelm, 207, 221 

Kaarta, 126, 128, 201 
Kabara, 128 
Kabinda, 44 

Kaffirs, 72, 76, 161, 163, 165, 168, 
171, 172 



Kaffir Wars, 77, 162, 163, 165, 

168, 172, 177 
Kaffiraria, 150, 165, 171, 172 
Kafue, R., 52, 220 
Kahina, Queen Dihia-al-, 15 
Kairwan, 14 
Kano, 202, 214 
Kanuri people and language 

(Borun), 120 
KsZsai, R., 42, 219 
Kasali, 247 
Kasr-al-Kabir (Morocco), battle of, 

21, 28 
Kasr-es-Said, treaty of, 140 
Katanga, 220, 228 
Kei, R., 77, 165, 168 
Keiskamma, R., 163, 165 
Kenia, Mt., 208, 220, 223 
Keren, 246 
Kerne, 7 

Kersten, Otto, 250 
Khaireddin Barbarossa, 61, 62 
Khalifat, the (Egyptian Sudan), 

234 ' 
Khalifs of Bagdad, 16 

Khartum, 210, 215, 233, 234, 241 

IChareji, sect of Islam, 14 

Khedive of Egypt, 233, 235 

Khojas (Indians), 170 

Kiezelbach, 211 

Kilimanjaro, 208, 220, 233, 239, 

Kilwa (East Africa), 24, 31, 49 

Kimberley, 173, 177 

Kimberley, Lord, 179 

Kirk, Sir John, 121, 211, 237, 
238 et sea. 

Kitchener, Lord, 234, 286, and pre- 
fatory note 

Kivu, Lake, 223 

Knoblecher, Dr, 210 

Koelle, Rev. S. W., 99, 150 

Komadugu, R., 206 

Kordofan, 24, 214 

Kosa Kaffirs, their terrible delusion, 
171 

Krapf, Dr, 149, 207 

Kruboys, 108, 130 

Kufra, 213 

Kukawa, 206 



312 



Index, 



Kumasi, no, in 
Kund, Lieut., 222 
Kunene, R., 43, 220 
Kuseila, the Berber prince, 15 
Kwango, R., 42, 199, 216 
Kvanza, R., 38, 41, 43 

Laborde, M., 268, 271, 272 

La Calle, 133 

**La Case," 263 

Lacerda e Almeida, Dr F. J. M. de, 

52, 199 
Lado, 229 

Lagos, 108, III et seq.., 202, 213 
Laing, Major, 200 
Lambert, Capt., 123 

— M., 270, 271 
Lamta, Lemtuna, 19 
Lamu, 24, 31, 46 
Lander, Richard, 202 et seq. 
Langalibalele, 177 
Lavigerie, Cardinal, 151, 239 
Leibnitz, 133 

Lemon, the, 39 

Lemur, the, 262 

Lemuria, 2, footnote 

Lenz, Dr Oskar, 215, 219 

Leo Africanus, 192 

Lesseps, De, 232 

Le Vaillant, 201 

Levantine Italians, 244 

Liberia, 98, 122, 129, 130, 155, 

156, 278 
Libyan Desert, 213 
Limpopo, R., 200 
Linant de Bellefonds, 217 
Liotard, M., 286 
Liverpool, 97, 112 
Livingstone, Dr, 52 et seq.y ido,^ 

i5i» iS^j i57» 180, 181, 207, 
208 et seq.f 211, 212, 216, 237 

Lixus, R. (the R. Draa), 6 

Loanda, Sa5 Paulo de, 37, 41, 43, 
216 

Loango, 41, 213 

Lobengula, 186, 187, 188 

Lobo, Jeronimo, 193 

Lokoja, 117 

London Convention, 87 

— Company of Adventurers, 194 



Lopez, Duarte, 35, 40 
Lothaire, Major, 229 
Lotos, Lotos Eaters, 9 
Louis, St (Capital: Sen^^al), 123, 
124, 212 

— IX (Saint) of France, 20 

— XIV of France, 71, 133, 
231, 263 

— Philippe, 129, 142 
Lourenco Marquez, 56 
Lovedaie, 156 

Lualaba, 212, 213, 216, 250 
Luangwa, R., 54, 222 
Luapula, R., 52, 212, 222 
LUderitz, Herr, 251, 252 
Lugard, Colonel, 132, 240 
Lupton Bey, 217 
Lyon, Capt. G., 201 
Lyons Missionaries, 150 

Macarthy, Sir Charles, 109 
Macdonald, Major, 223 
Macgregor, Laird, 116, 204 
Macguire, Corporal, 207 
Mackenzie, Bishop, 157 
Mackinnon, Sir Wm., 239, 240 
Maclean, Charles, 109 
Macmahon, Marechal : his Delagoa 

Bay award, 57, 178 
Madagascar, 4, 12, 32, 153, 261 

et seq, 
Madan, Mr, 157 
Madeira, 32, 39 
Magdala, 248 
Magdishu, 31, 46 
Mahdi (Sudan), 217, 233, 246; 

Mahdis frequently arising in 

Islam, 18, 19 
Maistre, C, 144 
Maize, 39, 40 
Majerda, R., 5 
Makololo, the, 54 
Makua, the, 49, 51, 59, 74 
Malagasy people, 262, 265 
Malay races, 4, 12 ; (in South 

Africa), 70; 161, 164, 265 
Malindi, 31, 46 
Malta, 18 

— Knights of, 21, 24 
Maltese, 62, 137, 282 



Index. 



313 



Mamluks, 133 

Mandingoes, 127 

Manika, 49, 51 

Manvema, 100, 212, 2^8 

Maples (Archdeacon, then Bishop), 

i57> 218 
Marabut, Marabitin (Almoravides), 

18 
Marchand, Capt., 235, 985, 286 
Marie of Madagascar, St, 264, 

267, 268 
Marinus of Tyre, 192 
Mamo, 217 
Maroons, 107 
Masai, 221 
Masawa, 195, 246 
Mashonaland, 59, 187, 218 
Maskat, 25, 32, 50, 100, 237 

— Arabs, 25 
Mason Bey, 211, 217 
Massari, Lieut. A. M., 213 
Massowah, see Masawa 
Masudi, 192 

Matabele, -land, 59, 188 
Matadi, 229 
Matteucd, Dr, 213 
Mauch, Karl, 186, 218 
Mauritius, 32, 69, 176, t88, 189, 

264, 267, 270 
Mayo, Earl of, 220 
Mayotta, 269 
Mazagan, 28 

McClear, Sir Thomas, 209 
McQueen, James, and the Niger, 203 
Mecca, 19, 22 
Mehedia, 61, 243 
Meilleraye, Due de la, 263 
Melilia, 21, 61, 63 
Mello, Duarte de, 31, 46 

— Miani, Giovanni, 210 
Menelik, Emperor, 246, 247, 248 
Middle men ojf W. African trade, 115 
Millet, M. Ren6, 141 
Missionaries, Christian, 33, 34; 

(attitude towards Cape Dutch), 
81, 82, 163; summing-up of their 
characteristics, 159 

Missions, Christian, 146; see Chris- 
tian 

Mizon, Lieut, 119 



Mo9ambique, 5, 24, 31, 46 et seq*, 

5i» 55» 74. «i7» 218 

— Co., 60 
Moffat, Rev., 199, 200 
Mohade, A1-, see Muahedim 
Mohr, Edward, 218 
Mojanga, 266, 273, 275 
Mollien, Gaspard, 201 
Mombasa, 31, 46, 49, 149, 237, 

Monastir, 61, 63 

Monclaros (the Jesuit priest), 48 

Monomotapa, 47, 49 

Monteil, Col., 129, 222 

Monteiro, Joachim Monteiro, Major, 

199 
Moorish conquests in Nigeria, 23 
Moravide, see Marabut 
Mordokhai Abi-Serur, 207 
Morgen (explorer), 222 
Morocco (Mauritania), 6, 10, 15, 

16, 19, 21 et seq,., 28, 64, 121, 

132. 2i3» 277» 278 
— Spanish possessions in, 63 

Mosilikatsi, see Umsilikasi 

Mossamedes, 42 

Mouzinho de Albuquerque, 59 

Mtesa, King, 239 

Muahedim (Almohade), 19 ^/ seq. 

Muhammad Ali, 121, 150, 210, 

231, 232 et seq, 
Muhammadan colonization, 25 et 

s^. 
Muhammadanism, see Islam 
Muhammadans, 13, 147, 283 
Mulai Ismail of Morocco,. 23 
Muluya, R., 63 
Muni, R., 64 
Munzinger, 211 
Murie, Dr, 210 
Murzuk, 214, 215 
Musa-bin-Nusseir, 15, 16 
Mwanga, King, 240, 241 
Mwata-Yanvo, 213, 218 
Mweru, Lake, 52, 199, 212, 218, 

222, 250 

Nachtigal, Dr, 207, 214, 253 
Namakwaland, 150, 161, 179, 180, 
198, 251 



314 



Index. 



Nana^ attacks British, 386 
Nantes, Edict of, 71 
Naples, Neapolitans, 18, 343, 244 
Napoleon the Great, 133, 134, 179, 

«3i 

— Ill, 135, 138, 139, 370 

Natal, 71, 83, 166, 167 etseq.t 174, 

175 etseg.t 980 
Nature, her pranks, 162 
Necho, Phaiaoh, 5, 190 
Negro, the, characteristics of, 91 ; 

warning to, loi, 102 ; Christian, 

147 ; Muhammadan, 147 ; future 

of, 281 et seq* 
Negroes, 2, 3, 147 
Negroid races (Nubians, Fulas, 

Mandingoes, etc.), 3, 9, 127, 128, 

144, 281 
Nelson, 133 
Nero, 191 

New York Herald^ 212 
Ngami, Lake, 179, 199, 208 
Nguru, 254 
Nicholas I, Tsar, 232 
Niger, Convention with France, 

113. "9 

— Coast Protectorate, 115, 116, 

155, «86 

— Company, Royal, 117, 118, 

i3«» «5* 

— R., 10, 19, 23, 113, 114, no 

et seq.y 127, 131, 191, 195 et seq.y 
201, 202, 204, 206, 280 

— Delta, 94, 113, 116 
Nigeria, 23, 118, 119, 206 
Nikki, 132- 

Nile, the, 10, 12, 191, 192, 195, 

209, 210, 211, 216, 218 
Normans, 18, 33, 122 
North African Mission, 158 
Nosi-b^, 269, 273 
Nupe, 120, 132, 202 
Nyamnyam, 210, 215, 217 
Nyangwe, 212 
Nyanza, Albert, 209, 211, 217, 221, 

222 

— Albert Edward, 222 

— Victoria, 209, 216, 221, 239, 255 
Nyasa, Lake, 100, 152, 180, 181, 

199, 211, 212, 217, 218, 257 



Nyasa Company, 60 

Nyasaland, 155, 157, 181, 217, 27S 

— German, 257 

Oak tree in Cape Colony, 72 
Obok, 145, 236, 245, 247, 248 
Ogowe, R., 30, 143, 319 
Ohrwalder, Father, 150 
" Oil Rivers," 113, 115, 203 
Old Calabar, 113, 114, 118, 155^ 

205 
Oldfield, Dr, 204 
Oman, 25, 32, 100, 237 
Omdurman, victory o( 286 
Omeiyad Khalifs, 14 
Omo, R., 223 
O'Neill, Lieut. H. E„ 218 
Onions, 39 
Opobo, R., 116, 118 
Oqba-bin-Nafa (the Prophet's bar> 

ber), 14 
Oran, 61, 63, 136, 137, 138 
Orange Free State, 83, 84, 169,. 

173, i74» 184, 280 
Orange, Prince of, 78, 80, 160 
Orange River, 74, 84, 161, 173, 179, 

198, 251, 253, 254 
Or^ge tree, 30, 243 
Ostrich, Ostrich farming, 161, 170, 

173 
Oswell, Mr, 208, 209 

Oudney, Dr, 201 

'*Outlanders" (Uitlanders), 88, 90 

Overw^, Dr, 206 

Owen, Captain, 53, 57, 200, 237 

— Major Roddy, 241 

Paez, Pedro, 193 
Pakenham, Mr, 274 
Palm, see Cocoanut, Date 

— oil, 113, 114 
Panda, 185 
Panet, M., 212 

Park, Mungo, 116, 196 et seq.^ 200,. 

207 
Passaige, Herr, 222 
Peacock, the, in Tunis, 8 
Peebles and Mungo Park, 197 
Pemba, Is., 46, 239 
Perim, Is., 145, 236 






Index. 



315 



Persia, -n Empire, 10 

Persian influence on Zanzibar coast, 

— Gulf, 32, 50 
Persians, 24 
Peters, Dr, 240, 254 
Petherick, Mr and Mrs, 210, 214 
PfeiiTer, Mme Ida, 214, 270 
Pfeil, Count, 254 

Philip II of Spain and Portugal, 

35. 41 
Phillips, his murder, 287 

Phoenicians, 4 — 6 

Pierre, Admiral, 273, 274 

Pig (domestic), 39 

Pigeon, 40 

Pigmies (dwarf races), 10 

Pirates (Madagascar), 264 

— (Moorish), 18, 244 

— (Turkish), 24, ^\ et seq. 
Pisa, 243 

Pisania, 197 

Pitt, oi^nises second expedition to 
take Cape Colony, 79 

Pliny, igi 

Pogge, Dr, 218 

Polignac, Prince de, 268 

Pondoland, 168 

Pope Leo XIII, 151, 241 

Portal, Sir Gerald, 240 

Portendik, 105, 125 

Porto Novo, 112, 120 

Portugal, origin of^ 27 ; invades 
Morocco, 21, 28; receives from 
Pope Martin V the prior right to 
the lands between Morocco and 
India, 29 

— and Dahomey, 44 

— and England, 103 

— and Germany, 256 
Portuguese East Africa, 45, 51, 59, 

60, 147, 287 

— Guinea, 44, 220 

— language, 27, 107, 113, 282 

— people, 27 ; explorers, 29, 38, 
210; on the Gold Coast, 30; 
round the Cape of Good Hope, 
30; visit Abyssinia, 31, 32; oust 
the Arabs from East Africa, 31; 
Christianise the Congo, 33 ; aban- 



don it, 36; regain it (1884), 36; 
take possession of Angola, 37 ti 
seq, ; confer great l^nefits on 
Africa's food supply, 39, 40; 
struggle to regain Angola from the 
Dutcn, 41; attempt to open up 
overland communication between 
Angola and Mo9ambique, 42; 
abolish slave-trade, 43; dispute 
with England about Portuguese 
Guinea, 44; names given to 
many places in coast regions of 
West Africa, 45 ; colonization 
of East coast of Africa, 45 et 
seq. ; defeat the Turks in great 
naval battle, 49 ; on the Zambezi, 
49; definition of their East 
coast possessions in 1752, 51 ; re- 
vival of energy at close of i8th 
century, 51; jealousy of England, 
53; claims to Delagoa Bay, 56 
^/ seq.; dispute with Zanzibar 
about Tungi Bay, 58; relations 
with British South Africa Com- 
pany, 59; conquest of Gungun- 
yama, 59; settlements on the 
Gambia, 104; influence on Niger 
Delta, 113; missionaries, 146; 
discover St Helena, 172 ; the 
Portu|[uese and Nyasaland, 181, 
182 ; m Madagascar, 262 

Potato, the, 39 

Prester John, 32 

Pretoria, 80, 90 

Prime Minister of Madagascar, 272, 
275, 276 

Prince Henry of Portugal, see 
Henry 

Prince Imperial of France, 185 

Princes Is. (principe), 33, 39, 40, 

43 

Pringle, Capt., 223 

Pronis, first French Governor of 

Madagascar, 262, 263 
Prostitutes sent to Sierra Leone, 108 
Protectionist policy in French 

Colonies, 145, 276 
Protestant Missions in Africa, 148, 

153 
Prussia in Africa, 214, 249 



3i6 



Index. 



Psammetik, 9 

Ptolemies, 9, 10 

Ptolemy the Geographer, 192, 261 

Ptolomaeus Soter, 10 

Punic, see Phoenicians 

Purdy Bey (Col.), 217 

Quadra, Gregorio de, 38 
Queens of Madagascar, 268 et seq. 
Quelimane, 24, 31, 47, 52 ^/ seq,^ 
209 

Rabodo (Rasoherina), Queen, 271 
Radama I, King, 266, 267, 268 

— II, King, 271 

Railway, British, in Tunis, 140 
Railways, 43, 113 

— in Cape Colony, 177 

— Beira to Mashonaland, 1 78 

— in Congo Free State, 229 

— Cape to Cairo, 242 
Rainilaiarivony, Prime Minister, 

272 
Rakoto, Prince, 269 
Ranavdlona, Queen, 268, 269 

— II, Queen, 272 

— Ill, Queen, 274 
Ras Kasar, 245 

Reade, Winwood, see Winwood 

Reade 
Rebmann, Rev., 149, 207 
Red Sea, the, 10, 31, 49, 145, 245 
Reichard (Geographer), 203 
Reichardt (E>fplorer), 218 

— (Missionary), 150 
Reunion (Bourbon), 32 
R^voil, M., 223 

Rhodes, Right Hon. Cecil J., 89, 
90, 182, 183, 186, 187, 188 

Rhodesia, 184, 188, 220, 280 

Ribat (on the Niger), 18 

Ribeek, van, 68 

Rice, 30 

Richardson, James, 206 

Richelieu, Cardinal, 262 

Rio d*Ouro (Rio de Oro), 7, 29, 64, 
121, 122, 212 

Rio del Rey, 115, 119 

Ritchie, Mr, 201 

Rohlfs, Gerhard, 207, 213 



Roman Catholic Missions, 146 et 

seq,^ 150 et seq., 152, 239, 240, 

241, 262, 271, 276 
Roman Empire, 10, 11, 17, 19I9 

192 
Romans, the, 7, 12, 191 
Rome, 140 
Royal Geographical Society^ 209, 

213, 219 
Rubault, M., 201 
Rukwa, Lake, 219 
Rupert, Prince of Madagascar, 262 
RUppell, 208 
Ruspoli (Explorer), 223 
Russell, Earl, 180 
Russia, 233 
Russia's action in Abyssinia, 159, 

a45» «46» 247 
Russian Germany, 216 
Ruvuma, R., 46, 58, 193, 212, 218, 

«37» ^38, 256, 257 
Ruwenzori, Mt, 211, 221, 223 

Sabaeans, 31 

Sahara desert, 7, 12, 64, 120, 141, 

202, 206, 212, 215, 279, 280 
Sahati, 246 

Saint Helena Is., see Helena, St 
Sakalava, the, 269 
Saker, Rev. Mr, 158 
Salt, Henry, 200 
Samori, 127, 128, 129, 285, 286 
Sand River Convention, 84, 168 
Sansanding, 107 
Saracenic Arcnitecture, 26, 152 
Saracens, 243 
Sardinia, 243 

Say (on the Niger), 119, 132, 206 
Schon, Rev. J. F., 150 
Schweinflirth, Dr, 207, 216, 217 
Sclater, Capt. B. L., 223 
Scotch, Scotsmen, 80; similarity 

with Dutch, 81, 116, 162; in Ny- 

asaland, 183 
Scott-Elliott, Mr, 223 
SebastiaS, Dom (King of Portugal), 

2i» «8, 35» 37 
— Sa5, Fort of, at Mo9ambique, 

46 
Sego (Niger), 197, 198 



Index. 



317 



Selous, Mr F. C, 220 
Semitic ColoDization, 4 
Semliki, R., 211, 222 
Sena (Zambezi), 31, 47, 48, 52, 53 
Senar (Egypt), 151, 195 
Senegal, R., 7, 29, 105, 123 

— Colony, 105, 124, 125 
Senegalese, 131, 275 
Senegambia, 19, 24, 124, 151, 280 
Serpapinto, Colonel, 54, 216 
Seychelles Islands, 189, 266 
Sfax, 61, 63 

Sharifian dynasty of Morocco, 22 
Shari, R., 119, 144, 202, 222 
Sharpe, Mr Alfred, 222 
Shaw, Dr, 195 

— Mr (Madagascar), 273, 274 
Sheep, 161 

Shepstone, Sir T., 86, 184 

Sherboro, R., 7 

Shire Highlands, 54, 156, 181 

— River, 52, 181, 193 
Shoa, 145, 199, 219, 246 
Sicily, Sicilians, 18, 192, 243 
Sierra Leone, 7, 44, 65, 99, 106 et 

seq.t 128, 148 
Sikhs, 100, 183, 241 
Sims, Dr, 156 
Slachter*s Nek, 166 
Slave Trade, 29, 30, 43, 53, 92 et 

seq.y 96, loi 

— Abolition of, 43, 53, 96, 107, 
164, 269 

Slavery, .30, 81, 91, 107, 162, 269 
Slaves (Christian), 148 
— ■ (Negro), 70, 92, 107, 142, 164 
Smith, Sir Harry, 165, 168 
Sobat, R., 191, 214, 235 
Sofala, 4, 24, 31, 46, 48, 76, 102 
Sokoto, 118, 120, 198, 203, 200 
Sokotra, Is., 10, 31, 236 
Sokya (Askia) dynasty in Sudan, 

22 et seq. 
Soleillet, Paul, 212 
Somaliland, Somalis, 10, 24, 145, 

208, 223, 237, 247, 278 
Somerset, Lord Charles, 162, 166 
Songhai, 120, 214 
Sonnerat, 264 
Sonnini, 195 



Spain, 16, 19, 21 

— in Africa, 61 et seq.., 277 
Spanish, 107, 137, 283 

Speke, Capt. J. H., 207, 209, 210 
Spices, West African, 104 
Stadhouder {also see Prince of 

Orange), 73, 198 
Stairs, Capt., 228 
Stanley, H. M., 143, 153, 207, 212, 

216, 217, 219, 221 
Stanley Pool, 229 
Steere, Bishop, 157, 218 
Stettin, von, 222 
Stewart, Rev. Dr James, 156 
Stibbs, Capt. Bartholomew, 195 
Stockenstrom, Andries, 166 
Stokes, Mr, 229, 240 
Stover, Rev. W. M., 156 
Strabo, 191 
Suakin, 245 
Sudan (Egyptian), 145, 150, 217, 

nZy 234, 277 

— (Negro Africa), 7, 13, 22, 23, 
92, 120, 144, 202 

Suez, 231 

— Canal, 173, 232 
Suffetula (Sbeitla), 14 
Suffren, Admiral, 75 
Sugar-cane, the, 39, 40, 175 
Siis country (South of Morocco), 6 
Susa (Tunis), 61, 63 

Swahili (people and language), 256, 

282 
Swayne, Capt., 223 
Swaziland, 87 
Sweden, Swedes, 97, 108, no, 226, 

227 
Swiss missionaries, 154, 155 



Tabarka, 243 

Tamatave, 266, 269, 273 

Tana, R., 255 

Tanganyika, Lake, 100, 151, 153, 

183, 187, 188, 209, 212, 213, 216, 

219, 242, 250, 257 
Tangiers, 16, 21, 28, 121 
Tappenbeck, Lieut., 222 
Tarik, 16 
Taveita, 95 



3i8 



Index, 



Tawareq (Tamasheq), 1311 141, 

Tel-el-Kebir, 133 

Tete, 49, 147, 152 

Tetwan, 63 

Thom^, Sa5 (Thomas, St), (Is.)i 

33. 43 
Thompson, Capt. Geoi^e, 194 

Thomson, Joseph, 118, 207, 219, 

221, 238, 239 
Tibesti, 213, 214 
Tigre, 246, 247 
Timbuktu, 22, 29, 130, 131, 193, 

195, 196, 201, 206, 207, 219 
Tinne, Alexandrine, 214, 215 
" Tippoo-Tib," Tipu-Tipu, 226 
Tlemsan, 19 
Tobacco, 39 

Togoland, 154, 254, 259 
Toole, Mr, 202 
Tozer, Bishop, 157 
Transcontinental Telegraph, 183, 

188 
Transsaharan Railway, 141 
Transvaal, 83, 85, 86 et seq*, 168, 

184, 186, 280 
Tripoli, 14, 17, 21, 24, 99, 120, 121, 

201, 202, 206, 244, 278 
Tristan d*Acunha Is., 45, 173 ; see 

Acunha, Tristao d* 
Troglodytes, 7 
Tsetse fly, 48 
Tuckey, Capt., 200 
Tugela, R., 168 
Tulbagh, Governor, 73, 198 
Tungi Bay, 58 
Tunis, Tunisia, 5, 8, 11, 14, 15, 17, 

24, 61 etseq,, 99, 121, 139, 145, 

151, 244, 278 
Turkey, Turks, 23 «/ j^., 49, 61 et 

seg., 98, 133, 134, 139 
Twat, 23, 213 

Ubangi, R., 143, 217, 219 
— Province, 286 
Uechtritz, Herr, 222 
Uganda, 151, 217, 223, 239, 240^/ 

seg, 
Ujiji, 212 
Umba, 256 



Umsilikasi, 186 

United States of America, 98, 147, 

167, 278 
Utica, 5 

Vaal River, 84 

Vacher de Rochelle, 263 

Vandals, 13 

Vandeleur, Lieut., 223 

Vardon, Major, 200 

Vasco da Gama, 31, 45, 47 

VaugMe, Capt., 219 

Venice, Venetians, 18, 29, 49, 103, 

210, 243 
Verde, Cape, 7 

— Islands, 39, 45 
Vermuyden, 195 

Victoria Nyanza, see Nyaiua 
Vincent, M., the explorer, 212 
Vine, the, 39, 70, i6i 
Virunga, Mt (Volcano), 223 
Vogel, Dr, 206 
Volta, R., no, 260 

Wadai, 24, 207, 213, 214, 278 
Walfish Bay, 179, 199, 208, 251, 

253 
Wanga, 256 

Wargla, 141 

Warren, Sir Charles, 87, 186 

Waterboer, 173 

Weatherly, Mr Poulett, 222 

Webbe-Shebeili River, 223, 248 

Welle, R., 217, 219, 228 

Welsh, 162 

West African Settlements, 108, 1 1 1 

— India Company, Dutch, 67, 68 

— Indies, 93, 97, 107, 147 
Wheat, 39, 70 

** White Fathers," the, 151 
White peoples, loi 
Whyda (Dahome), 44, 109 
Wilberforce, 94, 108 
William IV of England, 269 
Willoughby, Digby, 274 
Wilson, Rev. J. L., 156 
Winton, Sir Francis de, 109, 226 
Winwood Reade, 95, 215 
Wissmann, Major H. von, 219, 250, 

25^» 257 



1 



Index, 



319 



Witbooi, 259 

Witu, 155 

Woelfel, Lieutenant, 129, 286 

Wolseley fSir Garnet, afterwards 

Viscount), III, 178 
Wood, Sir Richard, 121, 139 
Wool, 161, 173 



Yao, Wa-, the, 100, 152, 157 
Yellow fever, 95 
— peoples, loi 
Yonnis, the, 108 
Yorubaland, 202 
Yussuf-bin-Tashfin, 19 



Zambezi, R., 5, 24, 47, 48, 52, 53, 
147, 152, 180, 181, 187, 200, 2o8» 
259, 278, 280, 281 

Zambezia, 51, 54, 220 

Zanzibar, 3, ri, 24, 25, 46, 49, 50, 
58, 100, 121, 149, 157, 192, 237 
etfiq,, 242, 248, 250, 255, 256, 257 

2^bra, the, 40 

Zimba, Ba- or Va-, 4 

Zimbabwe, 76, 218 

Zintgraff, Dr, 222 

Ziri dynasty (N. Africa), 20 

Zulus,^ Zululand, Zulu- Kaffir race, 
77, 83, 166, 168, 184, 185, 186 

Zumbo, 51, 54, 152 



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Stillman to write a history of Italy. 

Literature, Mr Stillman, who has been selected to write this 
volume, has many qualifications for the task. He has considerable 
personal acquaintance with Italy and Italian politics, he can tell a clear 
and interesting story, he has the requisite sympathy with the achievements 
he has to describe, and he does not allow his estimate of men to be unduly 
influenced by his own prepossessions. 

Academy, Mr Stillman was Italian correspondent of the Times 
during many of the events he relates, and he knows his subject thoroughly. 
His narrative, though not precisely scintillating, is orderly, full, and 
interesting.... From its own point of view it is an honest and not un- 
sympathetic contribution to tne subject. 

Daily Chronicle, This work is a very complete and impartial account 
of one of the most important episodes in the history of modem Europe — 
the achievement of Italian unity.... We have to thank Mr Stillman for a 
usefiil addition to current European history. 

Pall Mall Gazette, This work is not only a very important addition 
to the Cambridge Historical Series, but among the most notable of recent 
contributions to history. Both as a record and interpretation of past 
events, not too generally known or understood in this country and as the 
judgment of an honest friend of Italy upon her present, its value is hard 
to over-estimate. 

Manchester Guardian, Mr Stillman has given a clear and sufficient 
epitome of the whole struggle between light and darkness in the Peninsula 
from the fall of Napoleon to the death of Bismarck, and a bibliographical 
appendix that will be of use to all students, to whom, as well as to the 
wider public, his book should be heartily welcome. 

The Revolutionary and Napoleonic Era^ 1789 — 

1 815, by J. H. Rose, M.A., Christ's College. Crown Svo. 
With Maps and Plans. Second Edition. 4^. dd. 

Press Opinions, 

Academy, Mr Rose's narrative is well arranged and attractive ; his in- 
formation and research are copious ; and much of his work is of sterling value, 
especially his account of some facts in the obscure and illknown politics of 
the time, of the ever-changing negotiations of 1795 — 181 5, and of the Con- 
gress of Vienna and its many intrigues The style of Mr Rose is keen 

and vigorous. 

English Historical Review, Mr Rose has made a good use of the most 
recently published authorities, as may be seen by reference to his accounts 
of the Campaigns of Russia and of Waterloo. He has approached very 
nearly to absolute impartiality. 

Journal des Dibats, C'est peut-6tre, de cette difficile p^riode, le plus 
sAr, le plus lumineux Manuel qui ait ^t^ encore ^crit. 

The United States of America^ 1766—1866. By 

Edward Channing, Professor of History in Harvard 
University. Crown Svo. With Maps. 6j. 

Press Opinions, 
Times, Prof. Channing, of Harvard, has written a history of his 
country for which many Englishmen will be grateful to him, and all the 



Cambridge Historical Series, 3 

more so that he has been concise and has not attempted too much It is 

a true pleasure to read a book marked by so sincere a desire to be fair to 
friend and foe, countrymen and kin beyond the sea, and to speak the truth 
without regard to so-called patriotic conventions. The value of the volume 
is increased by the maps, bibliographical notes, and constitutional documents 
in the appendices. 

Daily Chronicle. As one of the volumes in the Cambridge Historical 
Series, Uie present work should be welcome in English colleges and schools, 
where, as we have had occasion before to say, there is no adequate text- 
book of American history for English students. 

Speaker, After a very careful examination we must pronoimce this 
little book quite admirable. It is the very book we have been looking for 
these many years, and till now have failed to find. There are admirable 
short histories of most European Countries, but we know of no other book 
suitable at once for the upper forms of schools, the undergraduate, and the 
general reader, which gives any really useful and intelligible sketch of the 
history of the United States within three hundred and fifty pages. Prof. 
Channing tells us just what the English reader wants to know, how the 
Atlantic States were colonised; how they came to revolt; how they formed 
their constitution ; how they spread westward, and how they maintained 

the Union He gives a clear and on the whole a judicious account of 

the real trend of history, the inner causation of events. 

The Australasian Colonies^ from their foundation to the 
year 1893, by E. Jenks, M.A., Reader in English Law in 
the University of Oxford, formerly Dean of the Faculty of 
Law in Melbourne University. Crown 8vo. Second Edition. 
With Maps. 6^. 

Press Opinions. 

Times, The writer has a double qualification for his task, having not 
only been a distinguished Cambridge man, but an official in the University 
of Melbourne and the author of a good book on " The Government of 
Victoria." His little volume is not unworthy of those credentials. It is 
compact, well arranged, and written in an excellent style; while the facts of 
Australasian history have been gathered and stated in a way that, generally 
speaking, appears to be very complete and impartial. Mr Jenks's accounts 
of the founding of the different colonies, especially New South Wales, 
Tasmania, and New Zealand, are singularly vivid ; so are those of two 
romantic and dominating episodes in the early history of Australasia, the 
gold discoveries and the Maori wars. 

Guardian, The editor, Dr Prothero, of the Cambridge Historical 
Series, is to be congratulated on having provided the British public, through 
Mr Jenks, with a clear, compact, and well- written sketch of the history of 
the Australasian Colonies. 

Ireland^ 1494—1868. With Two Introductory Chapters. 
By W. O'Connor Morris, County Court Judge of the 
United Counties of Roscommon and Sligo, and sometime 
Scholar of Oriel College, Oxford. Crown 8vo. With Map. ds. 

Press Opinions, 

Times, His knowledge of his subject is based on extensive and in- 
dependent study, and he grasps his materials firmly, and interprets them 

with judgement, moderation and discretion It is too much to expect that 

critics of all parties will acknowledge his success in this very laudable 



4 Cambridge Historical Series. 

undertaking, and there are, of course, many disputed points on which his 
judgement may fairly be open to question, but the candid reader will not 
fail to do justice to his persistent endeavour to treat his difficult and 
thorny subject in a genuine historical spirit. 

Daily Chronicle, A record of Irish history which will be found of 

much use by students Mr O'Connor Morris has contrived to treat his 

subject in a very comprehensive spirit, and with accuracy in detail. He 
has produced a work which will, we think, be found a very useful guide by 
the historical student through the mazes of Irish history. 

Manchester Guardian, Upon the whole, this is the best handbook on 
Irish history that has yet appeared. 

Outlines of English Industrial History^ by W. 

Cunningham, D.D., Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge, and 
E. A. McArthur, Lecturer at Girton College. Crown 8vo. \s. 

Press Opinions, 

Athemeum. It may be said at once that it is excellently written, clear, 
terse, and restrained both in composition and doctrine, yet not without 
glimpses of individual judgements, and even previsions, always interesting, 
and often vivid and penetrating. There is a transparent effort after fairness, 
too, in stating opinions with which the authors sometimes cannot be 
supposed to be in sympathy ; and slight as may be the framework in which 
such weighty matter is contained, it is informed throughout by the true 
historic spirit. 

Guardian, This little book is by far the best introduction to English 
economic history which has yet been published. It is well arranged and 
clearly expressed. It is characterised throughout by fulness of knowledge 
and sobriety of judgment. 

Educational Times, Our authors deserve hearty thanks for attempting 
to supply a stepping-stone between Mr Gibbins*s "Industrial History of 
England " and the larger works of Thorold Rogers, Professor Ashley, and 
Dr Cunningham himself, and unstinted praise for performing their task so 
well. 

An Essay on Western Civilisation in its Economic 

Aspects (Ancient Times). By W. CUNNINGHAM, D.D., Fellow 
of Trinity College, Cambridge. Crown 8vo. 4f. (>d. 

Press Opinions, 

Daily Chronicle. In this little work, Dr Cunningham, whose 
attainments peculiarly fit him for the task, has attempted to give us an 
outline of the growth of industry, of trade, of the economic basis of life in 
the earlier stages of the history of the western world. The work seems to 
us to be of great service and to have been executed with no little skill and 

judgement Considering the complexity of the subject,' and the scanty 

materials at his disposal, together with the limits of the work itself, we are 
of opinion that Dr Cunningham has rendered a most important service to 
our knowledge of the course of human history by means of this interesting 
and well-conceived work. 



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